Naruto the Vixen
by Miesha88
Summary: What if Naruto experienced a life and gender-changing metamorphosis as a child thanks to the Kyuubi? What if she was cloned to have a twin brother? FemNaruxKiba, NaruxHina and other pairings to be decided. Can't summarize for the life of me, sorry...
1. Chapter 1

**_I do NOT own Naruto or any other Anime/Manga/etc. If I did, I'd definitely not sit writing this, that's for sure._**

**Chapter 1:**

**Naruto and the Kyuubi**

A cold October evening, in the Konohagakure hospital, the young child Uzumaki Naruto was born. Unfortunately for this kid, that very same day, the village of Konoha was attacked by the Nine-tailed Demon Fox, better known as the Kyuubi. The clans of the village fought desperately on that day to protect their homes and children, with many losing their lives in the fight. The child was of course oblivious to this, being newborn and without many thoughts outside of emotions such as fear, wonder, curiosity and anything else you'd expect a child to have. The Konoha shinobi, on that day they did manage to successfully hold the Kyuubi no Kitsune at bay long enough for Minato Namikaze, the fourth Hokage to arrive at the scene and save the village proper from destruction, and this also his newborn son.

As he arrived on the scene, he already had pre-gained knowledge that was only further confirmed by the fury in which the Kyuubi ravaged the lands with. He decided on a course of action, and with that used his contract with the toads to summon Gamabunta, the (self-proclaimed) Boss Toad. "I hope you do not have plans for me to fight the Kyuubi no Kitsune, Minato. Otherwise you're incredously stupid." Yondaime stands on top of the huge beast, a grim smile on his face. "Don't worry old pal. All I need you to do is get me close. There's only one option here. I'm going to use _that._

Gamabunta's eyes widen. "_That_? You mean... Are you sure about this? Do you have the medium here?" Minato shakes his head, a gesture the toad oddly enough notices regardless of the man standing right between it's eyes. (**A/N**: For those who have not seen a toad, it's eyes cannot see something standing right between them. xP) "Nope. I'll have to improvise using my Flying Thunder God Jutsu, I left one of my kunai next to my son." "Oh, so it was a son? Congratulations." Minato grimaces, before returning his focus to the enraged Kyuubi. "Thanks. Something is wrong, by the way. The Kyuubi isn't supposed to be this violent. Anyway, let's finish this."

The battle between Hokage, monster and demon lasted for nearly half an hour. Only one more life was lost after Minato arrived on the scene, that being his own, and this with intention. He used a special sealing jutsu that he had developed, along with his teleportation jutsu, to seal the Kyuubi inside his infant child. However, during the battle a great deal of the Kyuubi's chakra was released. The tailed beasts were known to have as many special monstrous powers as they got tails, and the difference between the Kyuubi and the Hachibi was the Kyuubi's near instant chakra regeneration. The clouds of chakra released would be near unseen by anyone, and with everyone being preoccupied with evacuating and rescuing the hurt/collecting the fallen, not a single soul noticed the clouds of 'dust' that seemingly at random flew about throughout Konoha. There where dozens of them, each breath of the Kyuubi had created many more.

The Kyuubi's airborne clouds of chakra, upon the sealing of it's owner, went on a silent rampage. It began searching for hosts that could eventually create the new Nine-Tailed beast, so a silent war began among the Kyuubi's chakra. Lesser clouds were defeated and absorbed by the larger ones, and at the end, the strongest ones broke off a stalemate once they reached critical mass. Afterwards, all of them eventually found suitable hosts, within small toddlers, newborn infants and in one case an unborn girl.

As soon as Naruto, Kyuubi's container, grew to be self-aware, he noticed that he was disliked by the people in the village. Wherever he went, he got ugly looks, angry stares and/or evil whispers, and he distanced himself from his peers. Instead, he found solace in training and reading. And it also was through reading he found out about the Kyuubi incident seven years ago, an event that intrigued him. The date of the attack matched the date of his birth. The whispers and dark rumors he heard about himself often refered to a "demon child" or "fox monster." He was not supposed to know, but the young child had an uncanny sharp mind and quickly drew the conclusion that he was somehow related to the Kyuubi incident.

It wasn't supposed to be known to him at such a young age. However, since he had already begun the path to figuring it out, a few weeks later he was pulled into his mindscape in a dream, and stood in front of the cage sealing the nine-tailed demon. A rather huge cage, held in place by a tiny piece of paper looking like it could tear at the slightest breath of wind. "Uhm... Hello?" Naruto called out, and he felt something gigantic approaching. It appeared on the inside of the cage, huge eyes filled with malice and a large, rather grim-looking mouth, or row of teeth if you will. **"You called for me... **_**Warden?"**_ It taunted, and Naruto somehow knew. Knew it was unable to leave, knew it was the Kyuubi and somehow felt its anger and frustration at being robbed of it's freedom. "You are the Kyuubi no Kitsune, are you not?" He asked, full of confidence. The Kyuubi couldn't help but grin.

**"Seems you're a smart one, at least. Could have been worse."** The Kyuubi looks at the little kid, stays silent while thinking for a while, and then smiles. **"I'm the Kyuubi no Kitsune, yes. I've been imprisoned here as punishment and as a form of rescue from the man known as Uchiha Madara, by your own father in fact."** Naruto's eyes widened at this info, and at the event happening in front of him. The cage seemed to shrink as the Kyuubi continued to talk, until it appeared as no bigger than a grown-up. The Kyuubi also became smaller and smaller along with the cage, until eventually what sat inside the cage and looked at Naruto was a woman with fiery red hair and crimson eyes with pupils slitted vertically down. **"I've been called the greatest among demons by some, a Queen by others, a King by yet more unknowing souls. And even so, here I am, sealed inside a seven year old boy. All thanks to that dreadful man with his eyes. Twice I've been lured by him, twice I've destroyed by his bidding."**

By now, Naruto had sat down in front of the cage and listened to the woman intently. **"Aren't you going to become angry or enraged or something right now? Or bored? At the very least try to run from me in fear?"** she asked, andNaruto shook his head, while keeping his gaze in her general direction, afraid she might vanish into thin air if he loses her out of sight. "You're the first person to talk to me save for ol' man Hokage and Iruka-sensei, and even those are rare to speak with unless I've done something wrong."

Kyuubi tried to suppress a smile and failed, warmth filling her eyes probably for the first time in eons. **"Tell you what, kid. Let's work this thing to our mutual benefit. You're lonely, right? Always seeking everyone's acknowledgement and friendship?"** Naruto nodded slowly at the woman, a little curious as to where she was going with this.

**"Well, I'm dreadfully bored without being able to do anything in here, so how about this. I teach you whatever you desire in order to gain their attention, and in return, you help me find a way past this little seal of mine, even if only temporarily, could you do that?"**

It had been a month since that first meeting. The first thing Naruto had been taught was how to appear in his mindscape at will. Kyuubi was exceedingly patient when it came to teaching Naruto and Naruto gradually learnt better and better, becoming much smarter at a pace faster than even the little kid could comprehend. "Kyuubi-Sensei... Are you doing something to me? I feel like I'm... somehow smarter or something." Naruto looked over at her curiously, and she looked up from her self-conjured book. **"Well, if you really wish to know, yes I am. I'm giving off some of my own, I guess you could call it blood, releasing it into your body. It's yokai blood, so it'll make you smarter, stronger and more emotional. Which is the reason why I'm currently teaching you self control and restraint, so you can control your greater emotions better."**

Naruto nodded, satisfied with the answer. In one month, Naruto had learnt the basics of chakra and it's usage. He could walk on water, walk up trees, and other basic gennin level skills. Right now he was learning to meditate in order to focus his chakra, but he realized this was all part of a greater exercise to control his thoughts and emotions.

Author's Notes: Hey hey! So, I got my ass kicked around by my friend who says I have to publish something. So I did. I got a few more chapters of this story lying around and I'm gonna write more on it, I actually like how this one came around, now that I've gotten a chance to read it for myself. Reviews and comments are good things, but if I don't reply, it's just because I'm a clutz and forgot, my friends'll probably come around to kick me into replying sooner or later. ^.^'


	2. Chapter 2

**_I do NOT own Naruto or any other Anime/Manga/etc. If I did, I'd definitely not sit writing this, that's for sure._**

**Chapter 2:**

**Growing up.**

Nowhere in particular...

Sealing is an interresting process, and also a very unstable one. Seals are written with ink, handmade, and every slightest deviation of the seal can have dire consequences. Even the unnoticeable ones. One tiny speck of ink missing here, an extra thin line there, and the results of the seal can be very different.

In his haste, Minato Namikaze did a couple of pen strokes wrong while creating the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to trap the Kyuubi within Naruto, not that Minato would note the difference as it was so minuscule only the after-effects would be noticeable. Unfortunately the after-effects would be one of the things Minato would be unable to judge, seeing as this seal was his death.

That the Kyuubi was able to speak to Naruto at such an early age could be one of the effects of the faulty seal. That the Kyuubi experienced the same pain as Naruto did, and had the same emotions, would be another. Regardless, the seal was impossible to penetrate. She could not channel her feelings across the seal, although her chakra was siphoned quite remarkably well, possibly because it was all with her. Were she to be released, she could re-form as the Kyuubi.

But she couldn't get out. All of these things pissed the Demon Queen off to no end, but she knew she had to make the best of it. In order to make her existence within this little squirt as good as possible, the boy would need bribes and gifts. Lots of it.

Demons were not below bribing and blackmailing, they knew when to bow down to superior powers, and when to backstab their foes. That would be demon logic 101, and as the demon queen, she had had her fair share of head-bowing... and more. Luckily humans were not like demons, and it would be easier to ensnare the squirt like this.

Naruto was meditating. It was quite a boring thing to do, but it was better to meditate and stay hidden than being chased and attacked by villagers. He had no qualms about what they were saying, he knew he held a demon within him, and having accepted the demon's gift made him a demon too. But he would prove to them that he was better, he would make them respect Uzumaki Naruto.

'Hey Kyuubi-sama, what powers will I have? And when can I start training in them?' The boy was already grasping how to contact the demon without accessing the dreamscape, and it hadn't been more than six weeks since their initial meeting. **'Well, first off, you'll be able to change your looks. I'll teach you a combat style that will fit you. In fact, if I'm not mistaken there's a clan here in Konoha that specializes in beasts, right? Ninken? You should observe their fighting style, as the style I will teach you is the basis for theirs. Also, your muscles should already be quite developed. You might not notice it yourself, but their density is several times greater than they should be at your age, meaning your punches and kicks will have quite an impact.'**

Naruto grinned where he sat.

At the Hyuuga Mansion...

"Hinata, I'd like you to meet your cousin, Neji-san. He will be your bodyguard starting from today." Her father smiled at Hinata, and the little girl lit up, smiling right back and then turned her attention to her young cousin. She walked up to him and bowed. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Neji-san."

The boy returned her greeting, smiling back at her. "The pleasure is all mine, Hime-sama." Following tradition, he only straightened up after her, and as they began walking, he kept himself two steps behind, that is, until they rounded the corner and was out of sight from their fathers.

"Neji, please don't walk behind me. We're family, so walk beside me." Neji looked stunned and tried to protest, but even a four year old girl's glare can intimidate a man. He quickly stepped up besides her, giving her an uncertain smile. "I hope we can become good friends, Neji-niisan."

The Inuzuka Clan Compound...

"Neechan! Hana-neechan! The gray fuzzball known as Kiba Inuzuka, "prince" of the Inuzuka clan, was running towards his sister, a tiny white fuzzball running between his feet. Remarkably the boy never once stepped or kicked the tiny one, a result of his training no doubt. The young girl turned to her brother and smiled as she saw the puppy. "I see you got your partner, good work! Ah, look at him, isn't he sweet?"

Though not visible through all the fur, the puppy blushed at the girl's words, while Kiba picked the white clump of hair up and hugged it protectively. "He's mine you know. You got three, so Akamaru is with me!" That only caused a chuckle from the girl. "Of course, little brother. I'm glad for you and do take care of the little one. Akamaru, if my little brother acts up, you just come to me and I'll set him straight."

The little puppy barked once in confirmation and gave an impression of grinning happily.

The non-descriptive home of the Haruno Family...

"Hiya! Hii-ya! Haya!" A pink-haired girl was kicking and punching the air quite vigorously, while two adults were looking at the young girl in slight concern. "Dear, I know you're afraid for your daughter, but this -is- what she wants, is it not? Maybe we should let her. The Yamanakas say that there's only a 33% chance she'll become a ninja, plus her best friend is going to the Ninja Academy too." The man's brows were creased in worry.

"Honey, I have already decided to let her go if she truly wishes. But a father's got to be allowed to worry for his own daughter, cant he? I'm going to enroll her into the academy as soon as she's eligible, if she still wants to." The man explained, before sitting down in front of his daughter. "Sakura, I've got a present for you."

The girl immediately stopped punching the air and ran over to her father. "What is it daddy, what is it?" The eager gleam in her eyes was not lost on her parents as they giggled at her antics. "Well, since you really want to be a ninja, I went out and got you this." He handed her a small rectangular box. "I know it's not your birthday yet, but I feel you should have this. It's only a training kunai, so it's not sharp or anything but it's made of metal. It's very dangerous so be careful with it and let us know when you're carrying it alright?"

The girl lit up like a christmas tree and started jumping and cheering. "Yey, yatta! Wait until Ino sees THIS! I bet not even she has a kunai yet!"

AN: Hello little ones! A truly short chapter, which is caused by my lack of continuous inspiration. I decided it was time to squeeze out another chapter, but my friend was sorely disappointed in what I had planned for chapter 2, so it's been pushed back to chapter 4 or 5 or something. I think I need to flesh out the story a little first as you see. I'm planning to include a bunch of the (in)famous Konoha 12, especially a few with very little screen-time normally. (Tenten and Shino) as well as other funky characters. I cant promise they wont be a little out of character though, I'm not a heavy researcher _

Oh, and some events will be shifted a little bit (already shifted Hinata's kidnapping a bit), and I wont be following the storyline 100%... Well nobody ever does. No spoilers now *slaps self*

Also... where do people prefer the Author's Notes? At the top or the bottom of the story?


	3. Chapter 3

**_I do NOT own Naruto or any other Anime/Manga/etc. If I did, I'd definitely not sit writing this, that's for sure._**

**Chapter 3:**

**Connected Worlds**

Omnipotence. One word to describe godhood. To have the power of omnipotence is to have the power of everything. But that in itself is a paradox, omnipotence is used to describe the ultimate power, being able to create or do anything. Yet, if you're able to do that, you should be able to do something you cant control, which in turn makes omnipotence... not omnipotent anymore.

We observe two beings, Me'Asha and Bal'Shodan Al'Domar. Me'Asha is said to hold the key to Omnipotence, while Bal'Shodan is said to hold the key to Omnipresence. These two travel across galaxies and dimensions, upholding the balance and order of the chaotic multi-verse. They call themselves Chosen Ones, and the-

"I WANNA SEE IT, ANIKI!" The deafening yell comes from a young girl, probable one point five (meters) in her mid-teens with purple hair flowing down her back and wearing... mist? Her body is shrouded in dark mist that seems to flow across her chest and forming a miniskirt over her hips, constantly flowing around in circles and never revealing a slightest trace of skin underneath, while the rest of her body is available for all to see. She has a soft full-body tan and sandals of the same material underneath her feet, with fingerless gloves on her hands. The girl is shrieking like a banshee at a being at least half again her size and twice across, covered in a cloak of the same material, solid yet misty although it covers this being's entire body where it only covers the girl's essentials at a bare minimum.

The large being appears to give no reply, but the girl goes ballistic nonetheless. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE CAN'T GO! I WANNA SEE NINJAS! I WANNA SEE DEMONS! NOW!" As she stomps her feet the ground underneath her cracks and crumbles, and in the distance a mountain is toppled by the tremors. "I don't give a damn if there are hunters there! Besides, wouldn't it be best if we switched dimension if they're on our tail!"

It appears their argument would take a while. In another place, Naruto was, unsurprisingly, sitting on a rock and meditating. '**Naruto-chan, I think it's time for you to befriend your age-group. While the adults might loathe your existence, their children should be taught to accept you. Consider this the first mission from your Sensei.**'

The boy nodded and got up from his prone position, stretching sore muscles and yawning loudly. "Man, training the mind is harder than it seems. Got any tips for friends, Kyuubi-Sensei?" '**Well, as a matter of fact...**'

Atop a certain building in Konoha...

"Wanna watch clouds with me?" The young Shikamaru Nara asked his to-be best friend Chouji, who smiled and nodded, sitting down on the bench and leaning back, resting on his arms while he peers up at the clouds. Besides the two, the hulking form of Chouza Akamichi, Chouji's father and best friend to Shikamaru's father smiled at the gesture. 'You'll find him sooner than you think, my son.'

That was the moment Naruto chose to appear, using a Kawarimi jutsu to replace himself with a random loose rock lying infront of the three. "Yo." He simply stated, looking at the three men. Neither of them seemed to appear shocked or, as Naruto noticed with a little bit of happiness, no hatred either from Chouza especially.

"You wouldn't mind if I joined you, would you?" Shikamaru shook his head. "Feel free, just keep the screaming to a minimum. By the way, Kawarimi?" Naruto grinned and nodded. "Took all my chakra, too. Lousy control, but I'm getting better." Chouza was impressed, Naruto as far as he knew was only five years old at this time, and already grasped chakra and basic jutsu.

"Quite impressive, Uzumaki-san. Well, I should be leaving, you three take care alright? And Naruto, if you could knock some school knowledge into the head of my son here I'd appreciate it." He laughed boisterously, Chouji protested meekly and Naruto smiled and bowed politely. "I'll do my best, Akamichi-sama." As Chouza left, Naruto turned to the two boys lying back on the bench, before joining them and lying down too.

While the three lazy kids rested, in the Hokage's office the Third Hokage looked outraged. "I cannot agree to this! This is just preposterous. I must respectfully decline Kumogakure's... "offer", and ask that you leave this village by tomorrow morning. If you do not, we will consider it an act of aggression towards Konoha." The diplomatic envoy from Kumogakure apologized profusely and agreed to this, hiding a large smirk on his face underneath his mask. "Forgive me, Hokage-sama. It was the Raikage's orders I come here with this offer, I had no idea what was written. I will relay your message to him, and respectfully apologize for the inconvenience of taking your time."

"Get out." Was the simple statement of the Hokage, and the diplomat eagerly obliged, fearing the old man's wrath. Truth is, the envoy was in Konoha for entirely different reasons than strengthening the alliance between their two nations, heck, Kumogakure's Raikage wasn't even aware of him being here in the first place. 'And now to prepare for my true mission. The Hyuuga heiress is the optimal target, she's weak, yet not helpless and fragile like the youngest Hyuuga daughter. Taking an Uchiha is out of the question, their eyes are too dangerous if the kid grows up to loathe us. The Hyuuga it must be.'

Between dimensions...

**"NO, I WANNA SEE THE FRICKIN' NINJAS ANIKI! NOW!"** The purple-haired girl was enraged and screaming like a banshee, the mist encircling her body was radiating off of her like an exploding pincushion with the needles being spears of mist flying in all directions, over and over. The other being was visibly shaking from fear, frantically waving his hands in front of him, warding off the girl's wild yet effective punches and kicks. Suddenly the girl froze and looked up at him, her eyes shining with stars in them and a really happy, hopeful smile on her face. "You promise, aniki? Honest to death and cross your heart?" He quickly nodded and she started jumping in happiness. "Yatta, yatta! Whee! We're going to see ninjas, we're gonna see demons! Whee! When are we leaving?"

Not two seconds later the larger being was dodging, blocking and warding off the girl's attacks again.

Back with Naruto, the trio of boys were now chatting about nothing in particular. All three were looking forward to the academy, and they envied Naruto for being able to go a year before them, though Naruto just waved it off saying he'd be nothing compared to the clan heirs that would appear in the year after. "I'm sure all of you are gonna be excellent ninjas. I'm lucky if I even pass, but I'll do my best."

"You already know the Kawarimi no jutsu, you'll do great Naruto-kun." Chouji smiled encouragingly at the blond who scratched the back of his head and grinned. "I hope to learn the Bunshin and Henge before I join too, but I start next year so I don't think I'll be able to, not with my horrible control." Throughout the discussion, Shikamaru mostly just laid there listening, but he smiled nonetheless.

After several hours it was turning dark, the clouds disappeared in favor of a brightly star-lit night sky and the three boys said their goodbyes. Naruto walked in the opposite direction of the two boys, his trip home would take him past the Hyuuga Compound, and his destiny.

Kumogakure's diplomatic envoy was currently sneaking around the entrance to the Hyuuga main house. While it is true that the Hyuuga pride themselves on their eyes and have a near perfect 360 degree vision, they only have that ability when they activate it, and even with activation the visual range varies from one Hyuuga to another, depending on a myriad of factors such as training, purity of genes and skill.

Without expecting to be invaded, guards around the Hyuuga compound could be pretty lax on security, mainly because the branch house was often worked to death which meant guard duty equaled rest, especially the night shift. After this night though, Hyuuga would loathe guard duty.

It was due to lax security in the Hyuuga estate that the Kumogakure ninja even managed to sneak in, let alone get unnoticed to Hinata's bedchambers and pick her up. Remarkably enough the ninja managed to crash into the young Naruto Uzumaki who was walking on his way home while fleeing with the Hyuuga, which sent the girl tumbling into the bushes and the other two sprawling unto the road. At that moment within the bushes and trees, close to Hinata's bound, gagged and rolled up form actually, the air seemed to ripple outwards from a single point. That single point cracked and tore horizontally and vertically, collapsing in on itself like a crushed mirror until all that was there was a dark portal about the size of a large person.

"You little brat! I'm gonna kill you for this!" The Kumo nin spat angrily at the Kyuubi container who gathered himself and shook his head. "What hit me..?" '**Naruto, might I suggest you get ready to fight? This guy seems to want your head on a platter.**' Naruto nodded and got into a crouching position. Besides meditating, Naruto had done a little martial practice, mostly based on what he observed from the Inuzuka clan's style and what Kyuubi told him to do. He had no doubts he was gonna get hurt, maybe even die right now, but he'd be damned if he went down without a fight.

"Yaaah..! We're here! Oh, it's pretty dark ain't it, ani-" Fwhump! "Itte..." The purple-haired girl looked down at what she tripped over, and saw a sack. A moving, muffled, noise creating sack. Question marks were popping her head. "Huh? What? What's that? Niisan, what the hell is that! That bag is moving! Oh my gosh that is so cool!" She quieted down and nodded as the dark shadow looming above her pointed to the road just beyond the bushes. "Something's about to happen? ... That's a grown man and a kid! Eh? They're gonna fight?"

Naruto was outclassed and he knew it. He'd gained some speed and a few minor jutsu, academy basics for the most part thanks to Kyuubi's tutoring. But he also knew he had to do something to survive. 'Kyuubi, I think it's time for me to learn to use your chakra, unless you've got a death wish?' '**Heh, if you wish, kid. It's gonna hurt like hell but I'll force you up a level.**' 'Thanks.'

The air around Naruto began vibrating as he picked two kunai out of his side pocket*, one in each hand and growled as his body morphed infront of the Kumo nin. "You're gonna kill me?" He grinned evilly as his voice grew cold. "I get it, you must be ready to die." He gripped the kunai hard as pain began wracking his body, making him shiver. His eyes went blood red and slitted, his teeth stretched, mainly his fangs elongated and his fingers and nails turned into claws, all the while orange chakra tossed around him, cutting the ground and whipping up a small storm.

The effect was not lost on the former diplomat, the display made him freeze in his tracks as the massive KI of the Kyuubi was flung at him, for a moment the man thought he saw a giant fox head floating in the air above the little boy. 'Shit...'

"Hey hey, aniki! That boy's a demon! And a ninja! He's so cool! Oh my gosh look at that!" The girl was gushing over her new found interest as he suddenly moved forward at a crazy fast pace, kunai ready to strike while the opponent was still frozen in fear. In the blink of an eye the little boy was behind the grown man who buckled over, one of those blades in his chest and the other still in the kid's hand, dripping blood. A cut opened up on the man's cheek as he fell down on the ground, paralyzed.

All of the commotion just outside the Hyuuga Compound had woken up one Hyuuga Hiashi, whom had witnessed the encounter between the Hinata's kidnapper and Konoha's Jinchuriki. The fox was out of the bag, so to speak.

AN: Hey hey! Another chapter! I've kinda taken a liking to this story. I've amased myself by writing this much already, and continuing on. I've got several chapters planned/written, even! Yey me! Ok, that's only half true. I got nothing planned ahead, I just go with the flow basically. I got some concepts and ideas, but nothing firm. Just letting ya know.

Anyway, I got into a large debate with my pal about a certain word. I refuse to write the "correct" word for the (side pack*) or extra pocket, or shuriken holster that it's so affectionately called in Naruto. I think it's true word is too too gay to write. Magroth'll prolly say it in a review or something just to spite me. xD Oh yeah, I'd advice you to go on over and check out his story too, Naruto: The Uchiha Chronicles. I've not mentioned it until now, but Magroth's my beta reader, he really saves me a few mistakes. (Though his sister chews my head off for betaing his story _)

Yes, Naruto defeated the Kumo nin, but it'll all be explained why and how, he's not super-über powerful. As for the two OC's I've added in... I'll explain that later too, I'm not entirely sure xD

Hope you enjoy the chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

**_I do NOT own Naruto or any other Anime/Manga/etc. If I did, I'd definitely not sit writing this, that's for sure._**

**Chapter 4:**

**_Lifechanging News!_  
**

"You performed something dangerous out there, Uzumaki-san." Currently, Naruto was sitting in front of one of the most powerful men in Konohagakure, one called Hyuuga Hiashi, Clan Head of the Hyuuga. Besides the man was his daughter Hinata, who looked a little bruised but no less worse for wear. "You were lucky this time, you caught the man off-guard. At your age, while the speed was impressive I doubt you could've taken him were he prepared. Well, one could say he underestimated you, meaning you did a good job as a ninja."

Naruto was a little confused, was the head of the Hyuuga clan praising him? "Uhm... Hyuuga-sama, if I may..? I'm not sure I understand... Why aren't you trying to kill me, or run me out of here like all the others?"

Hiashi smiled softly at the demon container. "Two reasons. First, you showed remarkable control over... elements... that you never chose to have, and second, you saved my daughter. Also, the Kumo chunin has been sent to the I&T department, so we will find out who did this. I and my clan are in debt to you, Uzumaki-san. You'll always be welcome here for your deeds this day."

'**The Hyuuga are powerful allies, Naruto. You did a good thing, and the first great step to getting a good reputation in this world.'** Naruto smiled and bowed thankfully, silently nodding to the Kyuubi and giving himself a pat on the back. "Thank you, Hyuuga-sama..." "Please, call me Hiashi." "Only if you call me Naruto, Hiashi-san."

"Naruto-kun, I'm not sure I've introduced you to Hinata yet, my apologies. Hinata-chan, why don't you thank Naruto for saving you? I have to go talk to some guardsmen about proper routines." And with that, Hiashi excused himself and left the two kids together. "Uhm... N-Naruto-kun..." The young girl was blushing softly and lowered her head. "T-thanks for s-saving m-m-my life, N-Naruto-kun!"

Naruto was sitting there, looking at the young girl slightly perplexed as he wondered how a creature could be that cute. "N-nothing to thank me for... Uhm... M-may I call you Hinata-chan...?" As the girl raised her head, she nodded at him, before shyly poking her fingers together. "I... I w-would like to... I m-mean... W-would you... Ahm..." The girl took a deep breath, which made Naruto blush from the cuteness of it. "I would like it if you could return some day."

The Uchiha District...

"I hear you're going to start at the Academy next year, Sasuke?" A teenager with raven hair and dark eyes, the obvious trademark traits of the Uchiha family, as well as tear troughs under his eyes giving him a sleep-deprieved look. "Yeah! I'm gonna be as famous as you, brother!" The smaller of the two brothers replied eagerly in the affirmitive before starting to pester his brother to train him again. "Alright, why don't I show you my training?"

Later, while training, Sasuke keeps talking about how he'd like nothing more than to be like his brother, and Itachi cant help but grow a little worried about this infatuation. "Little bro, come here." He waved his hand slightly, and as Sasuke ran up to him, tapped the little boy on his forehead. "You shouldn't dream too much about power. As Uchiha we'll always be strongest, so why not find another dream, one you have to work for?"

"Then, what do you dream about, brother?" Sasuke asked, looking hopeful to which Itachi replied with a smile. "That's a sec-ret." He said in a sing-song voice to tease the boy, the reply to which was Sasuke clinging to the elder brother's leg and pouting. "Tell you what, keep thinking about what you might want to pursue as you live, and I'll help you realize it. If it's a really good goal, I'll even tell you mine."

Back with Naruto after leaving the Hyuuga compound.

'**Naruto, we have got to talk.**' The Kyuubi sounded a little distraught, which in turn made Naruto a little worried. If an all-powerful demon was stressing over something then it couldn't be good news. 'What's wrong?' No reply. He sped up towards his home, the looks of hate and disgust that normally stung him so and made him take back alleys and secret passageways completely forgotten making him a target for annoyed Konoha citizens and stupid ninja, which in turn dictates that something bad would happen.

Which it did. A black and grey tornado hit Naruto from the side, sending him and his assailant deep into an alleyway, Naruto crashing into dustbins as the spinning attacker stopped. He was a rather large man, scars criss-crossing his face, feral eyes and two long purple teeth-like tattoos down the corner of his eyes, one on each side. An Inuzuka. "Lucky! Seems like I caught myself a runaway fox!" The man was boasting, loud and clear enough to be heard outside the alley, but nobody seemed to care after a single glance and seeing who was there. "So, mind telling me why you were running away from the Hyuuga compound, little mutt, or should I just beat it out of you?"

Naruto shook his head to remove the starts infront of him, groaning as he got up. That really hurt. He looked up at the large man and whimpered. He looked creepy, and so that blurted out of him which enraged the Inuzuka. "Huuh! I look creepy do I? The fuck, I really should beat you up!" He stalked towards the cowering child who crawled back until he couldn't anymore. "W-wait, can't we talk about this?" Naruto pleaded looking like he was about to shit his pants. The Inuzuka man only grinned madly and as soon as he came within reach of the boy he launched a kick that would break some bones.

Naruto looked up from his position only when he wondered why the pain didn't come, and saw the man's leg frozen, no the entire man frozen mid-attack. "Naruto, run!" Shikamaru Nara yelled to his friend, and it got him going. Naruto got up and rushed out of reach of the man and over to the young Nara. "Come on, we gotta run Shika!"

Both turned tail and ran as soon as Shikamaru dropped his jutsu, the Inuzuka tripping over his own feet as he got control of his body again. "Damn brats!" He yelled and took after them, running on all fours to catch up. He never got out of the alleyway as he was stopped by two ANBU whom he had the distinct feeling were grinning and looking pissed off at the same time, the cat and dog masks they were wearing making it impossible to know for sure though. He knew he'd regret this for a long time. "Uh... c-can't we talk about this..?"

Cries of pain and pleas of mercy could be heard for a good five minutes before two shadowy blurrs jumped up out of the alley and vanished across the rooftops in the direction of the Hokage's Office.

Naruto's apartment.

"Oye, Naruto... what was that all about?" An exhausted Shikamaru was resting on Naruto's couch, panting for air while Naruto himself had collapsed onto the floor. "The reason I'm never around." He muttered from his face down position, the words muffled but audible.

"Man, it must suck having the Kyuubi sealed inside you if this is what you're going through." "Yeah, but it's not too ba..." Naruto stopped talking and sat up, looking wide-eyed at the Nara boy. "You know about her?" A torrent of mixed emotions was running through him right now. Fear, anger, despair, hope and he looked at the black-haired boy who seemed to know all those emotions and the questions behind them. "I didn't. I guessed. I've heard the way others talk about "the Demon Brat" when they think I can't hear them. You've got whisker marks on your face similar to a fox. There's only been one demon close to Konoha the past decade, and your birthday is the 10th of october, the day the Kyuubi attacked."

"I'd read a bit about sealing some days back because my dad wants me to become a shinobi like him, so I just took a leap of faith." Naruto sighed and flopped back down onto the floor. "I didn't know it was a she though." Naruto stiffened. "How would you know, Naruto? I mean, what I understood was that the demon wont be capable of contacting it's host unless the seal is bad or the host allows it. Is Konoha in danger, Naruto?" The blonde boy turned over onto his back and looked at Shikamaru. "Maybe. Hopefully not. The seal isn't ruined or anything, I won't dare to touch it. But I am talking to her. Learning to use her power. Since I dont have any family or something I can learn how to become a shinobi from, I asked if she couldn't help and she agreed in return for not being in a stuffy cage. The seal works like a cage no matter how it looks I figured, so I'm working on changing the way it looks to me."

"Ah, that's right. She needed to talk to me." Naruto said, sitting straight up and closing his eyes. Shikamaru looked slightly interrested in this. "Is there anything I could do to help?" He shrugged when Naruto shook his head. "Ah well, I'll stick around and wait if you don't mind then."

Naruto's mindscape.

**"Hey there."** Naruto looked up at the Kyuubi. Since Naruto had little to no knowledge of how seals works, despite him trying to keep a constant mindscape it kept collapsing in on him. Sometimes it would be a sewer, other times a bright, sunny forest, sometimes even Konoha, or a massive mansion. Today it was a large field, grass stretching as far as he could see in all directions. Kyuubi was sitting under a single tree, the only one nearby, though in the distance he could percieve a forest which he knew was actually all his memories. But this tree was not one of Naruto's memories, it looked different.

**"Take a seat, Naruto. We need to talk."** He did as asked and sat down under the tree, next to Kyuubi. She was human-like, wearing dark orange clothing that hid next to nothing, and with fox ears sticking up out of her long, crimson and white tipped hair. She placed her eyes on him, looking more serious then Naruto had seen before.

**"Naruto, there's something I have... avoided to tell you so far, about the way you're using my power. It shouldn't have been a problem at all, but because of your earlier escapade and use of my powers, there might be a... small... complication." **Naruto could sense that she was avoiding telling Naruto exactly what was going on, but let her continue. It was probably difficult for her, judging by the tree's fluctuating colors. Her emotions, if Naruto was to guess.

**"Naruto, do you know about hormones?"** He shook his head. He'd been reading some books at the library whenever he bothered to use a henge and enter, but no medical books so far, only books about social behavior and guides for aspiring ninja and stuff like that. "Not really, Kyuubi-san. Why?"

**"Well, had you been five-six years older, then this would not have been a problem, because when a human child enters puberty, their hormones run rampant, causing boys to become men and girls to become women. It's a long process and lots of hormones are needed. Growth hormones, sexual hormones and more. It's a lot of details but it's summed up as this. Hormones are the building blocks of your body."**

**"Now, from the start of puberty, this couldn't have happened, but after you tapped into my powers, you recieved hormones along with my chakra. Us Biju demons are chakra that can manifest into physical form, and being the strongest, my chakra is the most potent. When you called upon my raw power, some of it turned into hormones that are now surging through your body. By all rights it should hurt like hell, but I'm doing what I can to deaden the pain for you."**

Naruto looked up at the tree and saw streaks of orange and blue crash here and there, regardless of the ever-changing colors. "That's what the tree is for, isn't it?" He asked, and Kyuubi just nodded. **"I'm glad you're as observant as ever. But the problem, as you may or may not see, is that I'm a female. You're a boy. But the demonic hormones within you will most likely change that very soon. As far as I know, I cant reverse this so I thought you needed to know what will happen to you within a week's time."**

Naruto blinked.

He blinked again.

He shook his head from side to side and knocked on it, then probed his ear with his pinky before returning his attention to Kyuubi.

"I'm sorry I think I've been more hurt by that Inuzuka then I normally am. It sounded to me strangely like you were telling me I'll become a girl within the week, and that cant be right, can it?"

He looked at Kyuubi with a mix of desperation, hope and fear. She didn't return his look.

"You're serious...?"

A slight nod of her head.

"Holy... I'm gonna be... gonna be a... girl?"

Another nod.

Naruto promptly fainted, and Shikamaru looked confused as Naruto suddendly just collapsed onto his back, but shrugged it off, continuing his vigil. He only reacted when Naruto's hair suddendly grew visibly in length. Not by much, but it wasn't continously over time, rather instead a sudden jump from shaggy and semi-short, to shoulderlength and smooth. "O-key... Naruto, that's some wierd stuff you're doing. Mind waking up now, before I... freak out or something? Tch, troublesome."

Naruto did wake up a few minutes later, shaking his head before remembering the talk with Kyuubi. He cursed and looked around. When he saw Shikamaru sitting there with a strange look he had to ask. "What?"

"Naruto, mind explaining why you suddenly had a growth spurt?"

Haruno residence.

"Sakura! Are you alright?" Sakura's mother looked frightened at the young girl who was bleeding quite profusely from a cut in her hand, but the young girl just smiled. "It hurts, but a ninja has to be used to pain, ne?" Her mother felt a sense of pride welling up inside her at her daughter's bravery, all the while fuzzing around trying to mend the cut with bandages and sterilizing agents. "Silly girl, a ninja also has to be careful, you know." The pink haired child nodded. "Yes, mother. I'll be careful."

A/N: Hey guys. I was gonna add a bit more, some more insights into the other members of the Konoha 12, but I've been sidetracked a good deal by fascinating games. Then I got word that one of my friends had died, which left me a bit shocked. I guess I still am. But I'll try to finish up the next chapters. The school years is coming, and Naru-chan is going to turn Konoha upside down! It's about time I got this off the ground *sagenod* Or maybe it should be down to earth...? *ponders*

Ah well, hope you enjoyed this... somewhat random chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

_**I do NOT own Naruto or any other Anime/Manga/etc. If I did, I'd definitely not sit writing this, that's for sure.**_

**Chapter 5:**

_**Accepting Reality.**_

There's always something to be said for unwanted news. One of the things is unpleasant. Another is surprising. Put it together and you can say people get unpleasantly surprised by unwanted news. Shikamaru just had that look on his face that said he was unpleasantly surprised by the news Naruto gave him.

"So, the Kyuubi is going to transform you into a girl."

Naruto gave a short nod.

"And it will happen within a week."

Another nod.

"And it's irreversible."

One more nod.

"You're a very troublesome person, Naruto."

Nod again.

"So... What will you do about this then? How will you cope with it? I'd suggest you get yourself some girl friends to hang out with. At our age it's no problem, but you'll have to learn to behave like a girl, else you'll be seen as even more of a freak then you already are."

Naruto sighed and pouted. "Man, this is troublesome Shika." The Nara boy started laughing at this comment. "You took the words right out of my mouth, Naruto."

Naruto looked over at Shikamaru and frowned, before laughing as well. "Guess you're right. Ah, I've got a plan though! I'm gonna use henge to keep up my current appearance, so that people won't wonder why the Demon Brat suddenly vanished. Kyuubi-sensei told me she will teach me Demonic Jutsus once I could control her chakras, so I'll-"

"Oye! Isn't that dangerous Naruto? You shouldn't take risks that put our village in danger you know!" Shikamaru admonished Naruto, who pouted again. "I know that Shikamaru, and I won't endanger the village. After all, the Fourth Hokage protected this village, and he's my hero despite sealing the Kyuubi in me. By the way, did you know that the Fourth Hokage created many jutsu, not just the two legendary ones? Kyuubi told me she vaguely remembers him using some very dangerous jutsu on her when they fought, isn't that cool?"

Shikamaru sighed and just smiled. As ninja, appearances should be deceiving, and Naruto's plan to keep up the "Demon Brat" appearance was a very good plan indeed. It gave him some interesting ideas for himself. Troublesome, but it might be worth it in the end. "Naruto, if you learn some of those demon jutsus, I'd like to know about them alright? I'll read some more about sealing and stuff, maybe I can help you too. Just be careful alright? Don't let too many people in on your true identity, use it wisely alright? I've got to go home or my mom might get troublesome. Thanks for trusting in me, Naruto."

Shikamaru stood up with that and left, leaving Naruto alone in his apartment. It was pretty late, so Naruto decided to brush his teeth and go to bed.

Yamanaka Flower Shop, second floor (Yamanaka Home.)

"Ino, it's time for bed!" The young blonde girl looked up from her books. It was picture books with tales of brave ninja fighting evil ninja, and the girl was quite captivated with them. "Awh do I have to mom? I'm reading about how Asuka and Shinosuke fought the evil samurai tyrant Yoru! Mom mom! Will you read the story for me! Pleeeease?"

She smiles and chuckles softly. "No, but your dad would love to, wouldn't you Inoichi?" Throwing her husband a sideways glare that no man would ever say no to, the proud leader of the Yamanaka household swallowed that pride and nodded to his dearest. "Of course, I'd love to read that story for my dearest baby girl."

Again, he mentally added. Every single night for the past two weeks he'd been reading ninja stories to his daughter at bed time. He was happy that she took such great interest in the ninja world, his wife was a civilian so the chances were she could go either way, becoming a ninja or living a peaceful civilian life. From the looks of it she had chosen the path of a ninja.

"Alright then baby girl, let's get you to bed, shall we?" He heaved the young child up into his arms, picked up the book in his other and carried the cheering bundle of joy to her room.

A few hours later...

"Inoichi. Are you saying you think your daughter will become a kunoichi?" The deceptively scary face of a mild-mannered Nara looked at his best friend. They were sitting across from each other, a shogi board between them and to their side sat the third member of the infamous Ino-Shika-Chou trio. Chouza Akamichi was a bountiful man, plenty to love and plenty to hug. Calling him something less inviting than big-boned would give you a royal pounding from any member of the Akamichi household, not just Chouza himself. The Akamichi clan happened to be very sensitive about their own weight. In fact, most of the size of an Akamichi is muscle, since their jutsu required body strength, not body mass. A slim Akamichi is a weak Akamichi, or so is the general belief.

"A girl, Inoichi?" The large man smiled. "Well, if you think she'll be a strong member of the next generation Ino-Shika-Chou trio then-" He was interrupted by the blond mindwalker. "That's just it. I do not think it would be in the girl's best interest to be a member of a preset trio. We can introduce our children to one another and see how they pick up from there, but if she does not want to be friends with the boys, then who are we to say she must?"

"B-but... The trio, Inoichi! What will happen to our clans' legendary combination?" Chouza attempted to argue, but Shikaku smiled and moved one of his shogi pieces. "Well, if that is what you think is best, then by all means I approve. The teamwork is a vital part to our clans' combination trios, if they cannot work together, then the team will suffer instead of prosper. And she would be the first female member of the Ino-Shika-Chou trio, and the female mind works in mysterious ways even I cannot predict." Chouza calmed down as his friend explained the status quo, and then nodded.

"In that case, I guess we should introduce them to one another soon. How about a barbecue at the Akamichi estates? Oh, I will invite another kid, seems like Chouji and Shikamaru found a good friend. And the kid is no slouch either, seven years old and able to use the Kawarimi already."

Both the Nara and the Yamanaka clan heads looked at Chouza curiously at this, but the well-built man just smiled secretly.

A few days later, the Hokage Tower...

"Hokage-sama, I am so sorry! I had no idea there were still anyone thinking in those tracks among my clan members. Had I known I would have dealt with it personally, you must understa-" The rowdy-looking woman known as Tsume Inuzuka was cut of rather briskly by the Hokage. "Enough, Tsume!" She clapped her mouth shut instantly, and had she a tail she would have put it between her legs right now.

"I'm sick and tired of all the assaults, all the hate and all the myths surrounding Naruto. The child has never done anything to harm our village, and Minato wanted him to be seen as a hero! He's already begun changing the world around him by himself, he's made friends with the heirs of the Akamichi, Nara and Hyuuga clans. He also defeated a spy from Kumogakure who attempted to kidnap poor Hinata."

The Inuzuka clan head looked shocked both at the news of the kidnapping attempt and the fact that a seven year old boy managed to defeat a Chunin from Kumo. "I want you to properly apologize to the boy, Tsume. And then I would like it if you, like the other three clans, would learn to know him before deciding he is made of bad stuff. The boy is coming over soon, him and I have something to discuss. After that I will send him to the Inuzuka compound where you will learn to know him, alright?"

Tsume Inuzuka had never felt animosity towards the young blonde demon container, but she had never particularly wanted to help him either. Generally the Inuzuka clan and the Kyuubi container had a relationship of 'I stay away from you, you stay away from me', but some of her clan couldn't see the difference between a prison warden and it's prisoner. She'd dealt rather harshly with several cases of overzealous mutts who had decided the boy was dangerous and a free target, but some always slipped the net. Nobody could be everywhere at once.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I would be honored to do so. It fits rather nicely too, both of my puppies are at home today so that gives me a chance to introduce them to Uzumaki. Maybe he'll make more friends."

A few minutes later, after Tsume had left and the ancient Hokage had cleared his mind of the ordeal, a timid blond boy peeked in from the door. "Hokage-sama...?" Hiruzen blinked and looked at the boy. Normally he wasn't this timid was he? Silent and normally kept to himself, but never afraid of talking or showing himself.

"Naruto, please come in. Don't look like that, you'll make an old man scared. Please, sit down and tell me what it is you wanted to talk about." The old Hokage smiled at Naruto who nodded and walked inside the door, turned and closed it then pattered over to a chair in front of the desk. "Naruto, you look like you're walking towards your doom..."

After Naruto had sat down, he looked down at his feet for a while. The silence was awkward and not a little unsettling for the Hokage.

"Uhm... I'm not entirely sure... how I should tell you this, Hokage-sama... It's a long story..." Sarutobi smiled down at the boy. "I'm sure that if you start from the beginning then everything will be told eventually." The young blond nodded. "Then please don't interrupt until I am finished." At the old man's confirmation of this, Naruto began his tale.

"You know just as much as I do how much the village resents me. Up until some months back however, I did not know why. But I'm not stupid, Hokage-sama. I learned what was wrong on my own. Being called the Demon Brat behind your back, having your birthday the same day the Kyuubi attacked and was defeated, not to mention my looks... One day I thought 'Maybe I -am- a demon? Maybe I am the Kyuubi and just don't know it yet?' And that night I stood face to caged face with the Kyuubi. She's imprisoned within me, but I guess you already knew. Don't worry, I do not hate you."

"I was relieved to find out I wasn't the demon, but I felt sorry for her. She didn't exactly look comfortable. We talked a lot, since neither of us have anyone else to talk to. Eventually, she agreed to teach me how to be a ninja based on what she knows of human shinobi. Demons do not use ninjutsu like us humans, but because I am a Jinku... Uhm... Jinshu... Errh..." The boy stopped and scratched his head laughing nervously. "Ahahaha... A whatever-you-call-it, one of those who keep demons inside them at least. Because I am that, I have access to demon chakra, so I can use those skills eventually too."

"Anyway that is what she said and she would teach me that eventually. Of course this wasn't for free, we've traded. I grow mentally... That means I get smarter. I use that to change how the prison looks. A sewer isn't really a good place to have a prison. So I try to make decent-looking places for her to stay and give her some comforts, and I get training as a result."

"So for the past one or two months... I don't know, I lost a bit track of time with all that happened... She taught me some basic stuff. Some taijutsu stances, chakra control, Kawarimi and Henge. But then we met that Kumogakure spy. Oh yeah, I didn't know the Henge back then. Anyways, he tried to kill me and I was really scared then but Kyuubi helped me you know, although it wasn't entirely for the good of me."

"She had intended to start giving me some of her demonic chakra after I reached something she calls puberty. I'm not exactly sure what that is yet, but she says it's the time when boys turn to men and girls turn to women. I haven't reached it yet, so she says. But she forced that chakra into me and that allowed me to win over the scary-looking man, he was scared of me then."

"Later she really needs to talk to me she says. And she tells me that giving me so much demonic chakra before this puberty thing wasn't too bright an idea. Uhm... This is why I came to you, Hokage-sama. I've got a secret now and I thought you should know about it. After all, you are the Hokage right? Though I don't know if that makes much sense... I'm trying to see what stuff means or if it makes sense or if it is smart. I'm not too good at it yet so I'll make mistakes but I'm learning though."

"Hokage-sama..." Naruto stood up and looked directly at him, looking scared and determined at the same time. "The thing is... The Kyuubi's chakra is changing me. It is changing my body, but not my mind. She said she doesn't want to affect my mind, not much at least. And she cant either, the seal prevents her unless I weaken it, which I won't. But..." The air around Naruto shimmered and seemed to melt and evaporate at the same time, blurring out the vision of Naruto and replacing it with a young girl of Naruto's age, the trademark scars on his cheeks visible on hers and her long blond hair bound in twin pigtails that hung down framing her face.

"I'm turning into a girl, Hokage-sama." Naruto's voice was almost the same, maybe a slight pitch higher, more feminine. It would be impossible to tell until puberty. Hiruzen took it in stride though. The young girl stood there twiddling her thumbs and looking uncertain, her nerves starting to get the best of her. Each silent second made her more nervous and unsure. "Uhm..."

Then he broke into a smile. "Naruto, you're the number one most surprising ninja I have ever met." He started laughing heartily. True he was concerned about the demon breaking free, but he was more concerned about Naruto's well-being, and if he... No, if she were unhappy, the demon had a greater chance of escaping. Keeping Naruto happy and letting her have a decent life was probably the best way of treating the Jinchuriki and demon stigma.

"So you're saying you're turning into a girl. And the Kyuubi is female... That's a fact I will file for another day. That jutsu you used, it's a demonic one I guess? I didn't recognize it nor did I sense it on you. Henge are usually easy to figure out, but that one you used sure looked realistic." Naruto was relieved, looking extremely happy that the Hokage accepted her so easily. "Uhm, yes. It was the demonic jutsu Henshin. It physically transforms the user, which means I become what I imagine, instead of making a copy image over myself instead.

Hiruzen just nods at this. "Well Naruto, your secret is safe with me. But I think you need to choose sooner or later, a girl or a boy. As a girl you wont be followed and hated like the people do now, unless you reveal yourself as the boy, but a girl poses several difficult problems of it's own. I don't even know since I'm not a girl myself. But you should be careful whichever you choose.

"But can't I be both at once, Hokage-sama?" The old man blinked. "I mean, if I am the boy from time to time, so people think I'm still around, then I can be my girl self to all my friends can't I?"

Hiruzen looked deep in thought for a while. Sure he could attempt that, but the problem it posed was what of someone looked for both at once? Nobody could be at two places at once...

"Naruto, I have an idea."

Author's Ramblings! (Also known as Author's Notes) YO! So I've been flopping around doing a lot of nothing because I didn't feel like it. Then I got my grubby little fingers on new games, and combined with where the manga was going and me pouting because the backstory got all flipped around due to it... I didn't want to write anything. Then the mangas vanished. I aint gonna bother finding a site where you can read the manga anymore. They're gonna die left and right now that the governments of USA and Japan are hunting them down, damn *bleep*s.

But, I managed to write some more! I got some good ideas for the story, and since my hard disc drives decided to have a party I wasn't invited to (where they got pretty drunk and lost their memory) I don't have the original next chapters forward so I can take the story in any direction I want to. Having read through it again I find it to be pretty decent so I decided to continue it. *Shock and awe*

I'm used to starting a story I'm writing again and again because I'm uncomfortable with the flow. But this one I could easilly sit down and continue on. That's awesome! So yeah, stuff is happening. Finally as promised, GIRL NARUTO! I'll be using both girl and boy form Naruto for a while more so deal with that please. ^_^

/Mie


	6. Chapter 6

I do NOT own Naruto or any other Anime/Manga/etc. If I did, I'd definitely not sit writing this, that's for sure.

**Chapter****6****:**

**Family, I'm my own twin?**

Outside of Konoha in a small cave in a hill that should not have existed sat two people, though only one person sat, the other was lying down. It was quite small but there was just enough room for the two of them to relax in the dark recesses of the hollowed out hillside, while the surrounding area was lightly forested, concealing the enterance while still offering a semi-transparent view outwards through the underbrush. Miesha and Shodan, the cave's two inhabitants were relaxing before the day's... adventures. Miesha had taken a liking to the blond Jinchuriki and had begun stalking the boy turned girl. But right now she was snoring loudly. Shodan was as usual unfazed by his sister's rather loud actions and was keeping watch. They were after all near a ninja village.

He looked up and gave a glare towards a point in the air outside the cave that seemed to squirm and twist before giving way to a cloaked and orange-swirl-masked individual, who upon arriving gave a surprised jolt at having a short blade resting against his throat and a tall shadow looming over him. "W-whoa!" Instantly the masked person vanished and re-appeared several meters behind the previous spot he was standing on, eyeing his opponent carefully and considering his next move. The mysterious foe however stood grounded on the spot, as if searching for something.

"Never would I have believed that had I not seen it with my own eyes. Someone who is faster than I can follow, I have not experienced that since the Yondaime Hokage. And who are you?" The masked man was looking warily at the shadow-clothed Shodan, even in the morning sun's rays through the canopy of the trees his shadow-clothes made him hard to spot if you did not know what to look for. "What is that jutsu you're enveloped in? And how do you mask your chakra, because I do not believe anyone with such speed can have civilian level chakra."

Of course, Shodan didn't answer the man but instead calmly returned to the cave, confusing the masked intruder even more. As he made a move towards Shodan and the cave he abruptly stopped as a dagger landed just in front of his foot, barely outside a thin line in the dirt. The impact was soundless and yet the weapon sunk into the dirt like it had been propelled with a cannon, it's sharpness obvious.

Upon closer inspection the intruder noticed the line went in a circle around the small hill and he retraced his steps, noticing he had happened to first appear on the inside of the circle and it then hit him why he was attacked like that. "I get it. I won't get in your way, you won't get in my way. Very well, I can live with that." He then vanished within a field of warped air again, not a trace or clue showing he ever existed.

Sitting down again at the entrance to the cave Shodan went back to his still self, watching over and guarding his sister. "That power doesn't belong to this world, brother. Why didn't you kill him?" Came the question from the 'sleeping' Miesha. Listening to his unspoken reply she nodded from her lying down position. "Valid point. Alright, I'm done resting." The purple-haired teen bounced straight up in an instant, the smoky clothing almost not catching up to her movements in time. "Let's go hunt us some demon ninja, I think it's time to introduce ourselves to our new protegé!"

Meanwhile, at the Hokage Tower...

The Hokage sighed heavily. For over a year now he had been stalling the council, hoping that his spy Itachi would find some way to solve the coming conflict between the village and the Uchiha clan before it escalated. Itachi had said several times he was on to clues, and the fruits of his labor was lying at the desk in front of him now. A complete list of everyone involved in the upcoming revolt, down to the weakest, most insignificant supporter. The list compromised nearly half the Uchiha clan and several members of other clans, sympathizers no doubt but with this list the Third Hokage could finally make a move. Each of the names on this list had been guaranteed by Uchiha Itachi and his cousin Shisui who acted as a relay informant for the young Anbu Captain.

"Thank you Weasel. It pains me to give you tasks like these, but it is necessary in order for us to maintain peace. With this list, I will be able to contain the situation and leave the innocent alone. We will act tonight so make sure to arrive at ten precisely." Weasel just nodded, a slight drop down and up of his weasel-faced ANBU mask before vanishing in a blur. Hiruzen Sarutobi rose from his chair and sighed heavily as he turned to look out the window, musing at his misfortunes. 'Curses be, Minato Namikaze. This situation's only worsened since you left.' The old man glanced over his back, a rather hefty stack of papers on the desk. He groaned in agony. 'Then again, it might be better dying then suffering this menial task day in and night out.'

At the Inuzuka Compound, afternoon...

Young Naruto was currently laughing and rolling on the floor while being licked.. no, gobbled up in the face by an eager little fuzzball named Akamaru. "Hahahaha... Stop it..! eheheheh that tickles!" Naruto was squirming under the puppy until Kiba finally lifted the white menace up into his arms and grinning at the blond. "Sorry about that, he's very eager you see, I just got him. But one day him and me, we're gonna be the best partners there is!"

Naruto managed to stand up and gave a smile back at the Inuzuka heir. "Sounds like a pretty cool goal. Uhm that's right. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, pleased to meet you." Naruto held out a hand to the boy who returned the gesture shaking the secret gender-swapper's hand. "I'm Inuzuka Kiba. My mom told me you would be coming over, come on let's go inside." Kiba put the dog on his head, Naruto looked at that action curiously for a second before following the boy inside.

The Inuzuka compound was composed of several large mansions, two kennels for breeding ninja dogs and an animal hospital, specializing in treatment of dogs of course. The mansions were actually large apartment buildings which housed most of the Inuzuka clan members and their companion dogs, barring those who lived outside the compound with friends/family/lovers. Only Tsume Inuzuka and her clan heirs had their own housing, but it was very small compared to the mansions/apartment complexes.

At the far end of the compound stood their two-floor house plus basement, quite bland and insignificant in it's design as it was meant for shelter, not comfort. The Inuzuka didn't really aim for comfort and laziness in their daily lives but rather efficiency and progress. The mansions too were designed for efficiency, although the outside gave the impression of power and wealth. Even the Inuzuka had to play the politics game, after all.

Upon entering the house Naruto looked around in awe, since this was way larger than anything she had ever seen in her life apart from the Hokage Tower. "It's not much to look at, but it's home and that's what counts." Kiba spoke with pride and one could tell he was an Inuzuka through and through by the way he held himself as he said that, he gave of the look of a loyal member of the pack praising his comrades and their work.

"But I was slightly surprised though! I never thought boys grew their hair out to be that long. It makes you look kinda cute... Don't think I'm weird or anything, I'm just saying!" Naruto could have slapped her own face now. How come she didn't think of using the jutsu she learnt from Kyuubi? Now she was all exposed as a girl. Good thing Kiba hadn't noticed, but she doubted his family would be that imperceptive. "Ah well you see... I just never got around to cutting it, and well... I thought it looked kinda cool. I might cut it soon though, I do like short hair too." She said attempting to excuse herself. Kiba seemed to buy it or ignore it, he was already rambling about jutsus and the ninja academy which was a subject Naruto could easily fall into.

As Naruto entered the living room three new pairs of eyes immediately settled onto her. Naruto had a keen sense for being watched, when she was not busy thinking about too much random stuff and she knew that she was being watched even though the Inuzuka prince was still keeping her quite engrossed in conversation... Until his mother made her presence known. "Kiba! Could you go feed the dogs? It's your turn and you should have done it before Naruto arrived!" Tsume Inuzuka practically barked at her son who jumped to attention, quickly made an apology to Naruto and rushed out to finish his task. Upon hearing that a boy his age would show up today Kiba had forgotten a bunch of things from the sheer excitement and wonder of who it could be, since he had not often meet other children his age yet.

"Uzumaki Naruto, huh?" The Inuzuka matriarch looked over the blond who seemed slightly intimidated by the inspection. "I'm pretty sure Sandaime said you were a boy though. So why aren't you?" She gave the boy-turned-girl a feral grin and ruffled her hair. "No need to explain, it's probably something I don't want to get involved with. Just tell the old man about it." Naruto gave a nod, deciding against telling her that the Third already knew.

Tsume turned serious, looking down at the blond child in front of her. "Naruto Uzumaki..." She took a deep breath. Despite being a clan leader, formal stuff still sucked for the Inuzukas, but she would see this through, if not for the Third then for her own clan's sake. "On behalf of my clan I apologize for the behaviour of one Inuzuka Raku, the one you attacked you a few days back. His actions were completely unjustified for and he will be punished, both by clan and law for his actions. If there is anything we...No, if there is anything I can do for you, please let me know."

Naruto felt and looked completely stunned by the apology. This was a clan leader, a very powerful person and even Naruto knew that much. And here that woman was apologizing to her, Naruto the demon brat. She swallowed and searched for the words to reply to this situation. "Ahm... Thank you for the apology, Inuzuka-sama. Truth is... Well, truth is that my attacker... Raku? He didn't do much since errh... since I was rescued by my friend, Shikamaru Nara before I got seriously hurt. But thank you for the apology and your consideration, it really really means a lot to me, I... uh... I don't know what to say actually... Thanks, really." The whisker-marked girl bowed stiffly, having never done much formal stuff before or even been taught how to.

Tsume Inuzuka sighed in relief, stood up and slapped the girl on her back. "Man, being all so stiff and courteous... It really doesn't fit me! Please just call me Tsume, and feel free to come here any time you wish. You'll always be welcome at our home." Naruto nearly keeled over from the slap but managed to keep her balance and gave the trademark Naruto grin. "Thanks, Tsume-chan. And you should call me Naruto, being called by my last name isn't something I care for. I never really liked being stiffly polite either... Gives me the creeps for some reason."

Hana Inuzuka, the second presence in the room shook her head but smiled at her mother's antics while Tsume's companion Kuromaru didn't bother much and kept dozing off in a corner of the room. "Well, I've got to go make dinner. By the way, you're staying for dinner Naruto-chan." Naruto just nodded, all to happy with the offer. "I'd love to!"

"So, Naruto is it? Come here, I won't bite." Hana was waving the other girl over to the couch she sat in, and Naruto took a seat beside the young woman. "Tell me, Naruto... Do you have any favourite clothes?" The brunette had a conspiratorial smile and twinkle in her eyes as she looked at the young blond who shook her head. The rest of the day was spent with Hana teaching Naruto everything that is the glory of clothes, shopping and anything else a girl should pay attention too. Naruto absorbed it all like a sponge absorbs water.

"Ne, are we gonna meet her today Brother?" Miesha asked her brother, her attention glued to something in front of them both, in the back of the cave. The something was tiny realistic models of Naruto, Tsume, Hana and Kiba as well as parts of the inner layout of the Inuzuka home. Shodan's eyes where glowing with white energy, pouring forth from his eyes into the image, making them move. It was in fact a real-time reflection of the events happening in the Inuzuka home. "So all we have to do is wait for her to go home to herself, then."

Outside Naruto's apartment, later in the evening

Naruto had a happy, satisfied smile as she unlocked the door to her own home. Thinking about it, the Inuzukas sure were truly special. Tsume and Hana had insisted Naruto stay there for several hours while they went shopping for "him", and with only Kiba as company, Naruto quickly got to know the energetic boy. He seemed to be gunning for leadership of the Clan and insisted he would one day beat his sister to the punch by being the best Inuzuka there ever was. Naruto had to smile at this as it remind her of her own interest in becoming Hokage, though she was not quite as vocal about it. She did tell the boy that if he ever wanted to become Clan Head, he should talk less and work more for it.

Everything Hana had taught here was swirling through her head too. With the Kyuubi in her, Naruto had two minds at work trying to memorize and learn it all, and the Kyuubi was quite eager to assist for some reason. Truth was, the Kyuubi didn't know anything about current day fashion and did not want her pet project to be ridiculed, so she was dead-set on making Naruto the most popular Kunoichi in the world.

Naruto stopped and looked around the room, placing the bag with her new clothes and accessories on the couch before freezing. Something was off, the atmosphere in her room just rubbed her the wrong way. The door slammed behind her and she quickly turned, seeing a gigantic, dark shadow looming in front of the door and turning the lock. "W-who are you..?" Naruto was walking backwards slowly, her fear of being assaulted having surfaced again making her look around desperately for other escape routes.

"Geez, such a scaredycat you are." The girly, slightly whiny voice behind her caused Naruto to jump into the roof and stick there with claws of chakra subconsciously while she shrieked. "EEEEEEEK!" Looking down to see what scared her so she saw another shadowy figure, though the shadows were receding and revealing a girl with purple hair in a long braid down her back. The other "shadow" was still as dark and mysterious, and made Naruto very unsettled. "W-what are you?"

The girl grinned up at Naruto. "Why, I'm your new teacher of course!" She exclaimed with excitement, a tendril of the shadows around her wrapping around her arm and shooting towards Naruto when she pointed her hand up at the frightened girl, grabbing her around the waist. The blond couldn't hold her grip on the roof as the smoky dark tendrils gently tugged her down and placed her on the couch, next to her bags.

"We scared ya good there, sorry about that." Miesha sighed and looked over at the tall shadow in annoyance. "Yes, brother, I was going to!" She turned her attention back to a confused Naruto. "Sorry about that too. My brother keeps picking on me because I told him we should come here and he didn't agree. He's a good guy but since you cant really see it on him, and since he's so big and scary some people think he's a bad guy. Ah, My name is Miesha, and this is Shodan."

Naruto had managed to calm herself slightly and looked from one to the other, at least her chakra claws and foxified features were receding, though the absence of the fox was scaring her slightly, it felt as if the fox was hiding from something. "W-what do you want from me..?"

The shadow-clad girl grinned and made a pose. "We want you to be the coolest Ninja ever!" She suddenly face-planted out of nowhere. "Ouch... What'd ya do THAT for huh!" Glaring daggers at her brother, she eventually relented after... listening to something? Naruto was confused again, these two were weird.

"Fine fine. Ahum!" She caught Naru's attention again. "My brother says he refuses to take part in this, so I guess what I should say is that I want you to be the coolest Ninja ever!" She put emphasis on the 'I' parts this time, as if making a point. "There, was that better, brother?" She glared at him again and he seemed to pull a bit back into his own shadows.

"First of all, I'm gonna get you a pet." She said and grinned, then she thrust her palm into Naruto's stomach, causing the whiskered blond to gape in fear, just waiting for the pain to overwhelm her senses. When that never happened Naruto hazarded to take a peek, seeing the purple-haired teen girl's palm thrust into her belly straight through her clothes which were appeared unharmed by the action. Then she felt movement inside her body and shuddered. "Kami that feels disturbing..." She muttered and closed her eyes, hoping it would all be done soon. The seal on her stomach was glowing like a christmas tree, it's shape and functions turning... twisting... being reformed into something else.

A few seconds of eternity later Naruto finally felt the hand leave her, the whole experience through and through was an ethereal feeling that slightly creeped her out. "And here ya go!" Naruto opened her eyes one by one and was met by a massive wall of fur. She sneezed as something poked her nose, shook her face and attempted to tame the hairy forest, managing to keep it below her chin at least. "And what is th-" Naruto stopped mid-sentence.

She blinked. Then she blinked again. Just to be certain she rubbed her eyes and blinked once more. Her hand shot to her stomach and she led some chakra through her body. The seal gloved still, but looked different. It was now a hole in the middle and two 'threads' spiralling out from it and even though they stopped after a few rounds around the hole, Naruto could 'feel' them, like threads from her body. One was leading into herself and the other lead outwards, and she knew whatever it lead to was the owner of the forest of fur in front of her. "She's still bound to you, although she's now more free to teach you what you need to know."

Naruto looked at the smiling girl slightly mortified. "What'll I do now...? People will really start thinking of me as a demon now! They'll think I'm a demon and come for me, they'll kill me!"

"Of course not! We have only been here a week, but me and my brother have already thought of a way to fix that. Kyuubi-chan, why not join the discussion?"

The fox sighed and shifted from the shape of a large fox about the size of Kuromaru, morphing into a humanoid form, her fur taking the shape of an orange and red silky robe, her tails pulling into her spine and the bushy hair from the many tails streaming up the spine and filling out the hair on her head, red with white tips in the ends. "I wished to avoid that, Kami-sama... But your kin always seems to enjoy causing misery for my own."

The purple-haired girl giggled and clapped her hands. "Correct! But I wont do much though. Me and my Brother aren't exactly welcomed by the other gods anymore. You know, all that jealousy and intrigue and politics... Anyways, we're half-demons now or something and I don't really care since there is no place to go for us." The girl shrugged and turned her focus to Naruto again.

"Naruto! I wish to teach you lots of things I've learnt from ninjas in other places. Me and my brother have to leave very soon... well, we have about three years we can stay here and hide. Then we have to leave, so in the next three years, I'll train you to defend yourself and Kyuubi here. After all, this is a Daemon World, and it wouldn't do to have the strongest demon die or be abused. Do you have complaints with my decision Kyuubi?"

The red-haired woman had been squirming and trying to raise her paw.. erh, hand several times while Miesha was talking, and yipped when the girl addressed her. "Uhm... It's just... what about me? I was kind of teaching the girl myself..." Kyuubi poked her fingers together and pouted slightly at having her charge and pet project taken away from her. "D'awh, how cute you are!" Miesha smiled and ruffled the Demon Queen's hair. Naruto almost swallowed her tongue as she gasped, fearing Kyuubi's volatile response. Kyuubi was after all a demon!

The last thing the whiskered girl expected was for the Queen of Demons to blush at the sign of affection. "Don't worry Kyuubi-chan. We'll teach her together, but I'm unfortunately only allowed to use this world's build matrix in my teaching methods. It's a rule you see."

The red-haired queen snorted. "You have rules, now? Last I recalled, gods only cared about rules that benefited themselves, and even then the rules were fickle at best. Not so unlike us demons, in fact." She frowned and looked at the female god-being. "Since when did a god care about saving a world after it's creation? Especially a demon world?"

Miesha just shook her head. "Another time. We need to get this girl into shape. We should also try to collect all your energy before it grows out of proportion... Brother, would you please...?" She looked at the forgotten shadow by the door, and he gave a slight nod of his head before disappearing without a trace. Naruto let out her breath, unaware that she had even held it. She immediately held it again when the two females turned their full attention to her. They had malicious grins on their faces.

"Naruto, before this night is over, you'll have learnt the most important jutsu you will ever come to know. The old Hokage already gave it to you, did he not?" Kyuubi gave Naruto a smile that the blond Kunoichi-to-be knew held lots of bad promises about what would happen in the near future.

A while later, the Haruno house...

Knock-knock-knock. Three quick raps on the door. The parents of Haruno Sakura were sitting in the living room wondering about the expenses of their daughter going to the Ninja academy when someone knocked at their door. It was very late in the afternoon, so Haruno Keiji went to the door and looked through the peephole. There stood a tall man wearing the garments of a Chuunin ninja. The whole get-up with cargo pants, Chuunin vest and the forehead protector.

Opening the door, Keiji Haruno looked at the Chuunin. "Yes, may I help you?" The Chuunin smiled disarmingly at the suspicious man. "It has come to my attention that your daughter wishes to attend the academy. I am merely here to talk to you about the expenses and what it entails for her to be signed up." The Chuunin stated. Keiji frowned slightly. "At this hour? Why didn't you come earlier? Besides, I have never heard of something like this." The Chuunin gave Keiji a look of disappointment. "Haruno Keiji, how many civilian families do you know that have sent their daughters or sons to the ninja academy?"

After a short while of thinking, Keiji finally opened the door, defeated. "Alright alright, come on in. Tsubaki, could you put the kettle on?" He called back to the his wife who stood at the end of the hallway watching the men. She went to the kitchen to put on the stove. "Thank you. I imagine it must be very disconcerting having a stranger show up in the middle of the night with no notice. I'll make this quick." He stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

Sitting on the rooftop across from the Haruno household, Shodan gave a dark smile to the sleeping village as he watched the proceedings beneath him, his lips moving in sync with the "Chuunin" as he convinced the couple that their daughter would be best taken care of with a family of ninja.

Back at Naruto's apartment, the Jinchuriki was sitting cross-legged on the floor listening to her two Senseis going on and on about chakra, theories and practical solutions. The stuff was fascinating, but a lot of things were piling up as questions.

"Naruto, as you should recall from the books I told you to read, chakra is incredibly difficult to crystallize and thus, study. Because of this, nobody truly knows exactly what chakra is except the one who created it. It's a life-force, it keeps living things alive, acting as a symbiotic energy to a body's own lifeblood. What the chakra gets out of it, nobody here knows. The Jyubi probably knew, after all he was the one who created this place... Let's continue."

Kyuubi was walking slowly back and forth, having procured glasses from somewhere that sat on her nose, two of her tails wagging back and forth behind her in a lazy manner. Miesha gave a big grin and took over for Kyuubi, sitting perched hoovering just above the table in front of Naruto.

"When a person channels chakra, they pull this life force into their hands to form spells, or jutsu as you call them. Any kind of jutsu can be performed this way by using the life-force, but everyone is unique. Individual. As you will come to know, performing some jutsu will be a lot easier than performing others. For example, a person who has an affinity for Doton jutsu, or Earth spells as I would call them will find it very very hard to learn Raiton jutsu, also known as Lightning spells. It's how humans here are built."

Kyuubi nodded at this as if to underline the half-god's point if there was one, her ears wobbling with the motion before following up. "But no matter how tricky or strange a jutsu seems, you can always learn it. With enough training, practice and repetition you'll eventually unlock the key to the jutsu. For any elemental jutsu, learning one means you're one step closer to learning another one. Even cross-element. Even a Doton user can eventually use the most powerful Raiton spells if he practices enough."

"Of course there's the problem with the sixth element. The Body element. If you have seen the Akamichi or the Nara perform jutsu, you'll know what I'm talking about. There are those who focuses on not elemental jutsu, but rather jutsu that affect theirs or other bodies. These people utilize the body element, or rather the chakra's habit of affecting the body itself. The most common group here are the Genjutsu users. They create illusions by affecting the chakra inside other people, but this require very precise chakra control."

Miesha grinned hugely at Naruto as she continued the lesson. "There's always a line between chakra control and chakra capacity. But with enough training, anything is possible. You have massive chakra capacity, so training control should and will be your highest priority. But before that you need to learn the clone technique that old geezer gave you. And while we're on the clone subject, you'll need to learn the True Clone Jutsu if you ever want to keep your disguise intact."

Naruto looked at her two teachers curiously. "Why is that? And -what- is that?" Kyuubi looked just as curious as Naruto at this. "Yeah... What is the True Clone Jutsu, Kami-sama? I never heard of something like that." Miesha gave another wide grin. "It's just what it says. A true clone of yourself. Capable of independent thought like the Kage Bunshin, but won't go down in one hit and will even realistically die upon defeat. A second you. Although you should never make more than two True clones at once, and only with long breaks in between and plenty of sustenance to gain what you lost. The cost of the clone is very high, you see. Right now you're too scrawny and feeble to create one without dying, but not to worry. The energy matrix here allows me to use my powers in rather unusual ways."

Miesha looked thoughtful for a moment, before floating towards the frightened blond who tried to avoid the purple-haired divinity with little to no actual attempt, already been proven that she could not and would not escape anyway. As Miesha touched the aspiring Hokage's forehead, all thought disappeared for Naruto and she collapsed on the couch. "Just rest, dear. Else this would probably have hurt like hell." She giggled and corrected herself. "But it probably will hurt just as much when you wake up anyway." She grinned while her hands started to glow an ethereal green color.

Outside the Haruno home, 21:58 in the evening...

Shodan was still on the rooftop, currently just sitting with his head resting against the solid brick walls, elevated some 20 centimeters above the roof to provide a sort of fence around it like most buildings in Konoha. Be it actual fences, wood or brick elevations, the rooftops of Konoha were more child safe than most other places in the Fire Country.

His eyes catched movement bouncing across the rooftops, and he blurred out of vision as the ninja flew past him. Following a hunch, the stoic giant decided to follow these people. The sun had already set, twilight was covering the village in it's darker than dark pitch. With the orange and deep blue sky above, and the lights from the city below, spotting anyone moving across rooftops would be incredibly difficult, especially if that someone was as darkly veiled as the twilight itself.

The Uchiha district, 22:01

"Do you understand my orders?" A battle-garb clad Hiruzen Sarutobi looked to the fifteen ANBU in front of him. Everyone was wearing dark ninja garments that made their movements difficult to see, and black versions of their ANBU masks. All fifteen nodded in unison. "Weasel, Dog and Cat, each of you lead a team to your designated locations. The operation begins in four minutes. Bear, Wolf and Horse, you're with me."

Shodan was standing right next to the ANBU and Hiruzen, believing his Daemon Wrappings made him invisible in the darkness. He was curious as to why the ANBU were making a move here. He knew an assassination team when he saw one, and here was eight of them. Something big was going on... He decided he would tell his sister of this and made a move to leave when a hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage looked straight at Shodan. "And who might you be? You're wearing a very rare object, how did you come across such a tool?"

The three ANBU with Hiruzen had already taken up position around Shodan, something he would have noticed had he not been too deep in thought, confident in his cloak. He lifted one arm slowly towards his throat and tore away the shadows there, revealing a severely mutilated and scarred throat to the four present. "You cannot talk... Then how do you communicate?" The old man questioned.

The Chuunin from before arrived at the scene at that moment, moving towards the five people. "I communicate in many different ways." Shodan's lips were moving in sync with the Chuunin's, and Bear's gruff voice spoke up from under his mask. "Your clone, I presume?" Shodan nodded and continued. "My name is Bael'Shodan al'Domar, I'm one of the Kami, on a self-imposed exile to your work along with my sister for petty reasons. I do not often communicate with others, preferring to let my sister speak, but I feel I should let you know that there's a dangerous individual within the walls you're about to besiege. I can defeat him, you cannot. I gazed upon his mind earlier this day, he knows about your plans and is here to make them fail... or succeed better than you are plotting. I am not sure."

At the mention of being a Kami, Hiruzen had released his grip on Shodan. The old man had seen a lot of things in his life, and the knowledge of the Daemon Wrappings being a tool of the gods and demons, along with a sense of truth radiating from the large man compelled him to believe. He knew of course this was the nature of the Kami, their very presence made people believe in them. He had only met one in the past, but it was more than enough.

"You honor us with your presence, Kami-sama. Who is this individual you are talking about that you will fight for us?" Hiruzen asked, genuinely curious and a bit frightened that a demon other than the nine could exist in the world.

"His name is Madara. His power is stolen from the Daemon that built this world, it makes him virtually untouchable. I will drive him away, but it is not my destiny to defeat this man. That destiny lies within your own demon child." He whispered that last part only to Hiruzen's ears. "Care for her well, Sarutobi-san. She is one of our prodigies, and we will need her in the far future. Do not let harm come to her, mostly not emotionally, until she is ready to fight on her own." Shodan disappeared with those words and his Chuunin vanished in a puff of smoke. Hiruzen turned to focus on his own task at hand. "Alright ANBU, let's end this rebellion."

Konoha forest, a few minutes later.

"Now then... I guess it's time to finish off my clan." Madara stood decisively, the Sharingan under his mask swirling ferociously, though he stopped as a familiar presence appeared behind him. "The shadow-warrior... I agreed to your terms and did not intrude on your sanctum. To what do I owe this meeting?"

Shodan appeared in front of Madara in a burst of darkness, looking directly into the Sharingan eyes. Thoughts of Shodan's poured through his own brightly blue-white glowing eyes making the Sharingan wielder kneel. 'You are not allowed to bring harm your former clan unless they attack you. By my will as a Kami you are no longer allowed to step beyond the borders of the Country of Fire. My will is absolute, you -will- comply to these decisions.' The booming voice rang inside Madara's head, muting any thoughts he would have had. "Y-your w-will is... absolute.." The masked Uchiha said through gritted teeth, anger and agony rising. The commanding presence vanished and Madara could think again.

"A Kami... You have defeated me twice, shadow-warrior. I hope for my own sake we will never meet again." The ancient Uchiha disappeared through his space-time ability, already plotting ways to overcome the Kami's law.

Konoha, the next day.

"Did you hear?" A woman whispered to her friend. "Uchiha Itachi killed of nearly half his own clan and disappeared last night!" All around Konoha, ANBU had placed rumors about Itachi attacking his own clan. Even the Uchiha believed the rumors, and later that day the Hokage officially announced Itachi a traitor to Konoha, a nuke-nin.

What wasn't said was that Itachi, Danzo, the councilors and Hiruzen had all come to an agreement on who were to blame. It was Itachi's suggestion that he take blame for it. By becoming a nuke-nin, he could act as a spy for Konoha. With everyone in agreement, Itachi left with only two notes revealing some things to his brother and cousin.

Shisui Uchiha moved in with Mikoto and Sasuke after the incident, and Sasuke warmed up to him rather quickly. The note he got from his best friend told him to take care of Sasuke and, once Shisui decided Sasuke worthy, reveal Itachi's dream to the boy.

Sasuke's note had two types of text. The first one told Sasuke that Itachi loved him and asked for his forgiveness for the actions he had taken against their family. It also said that the second part could only be revealed by the Sharingan, and told the full truth of -why- he had done it.

The second part did in fact tell the truth but only part of it, that the Uchiha had been plotting a coup d'etat against the Hokage and that he had killed the ones who were planning to overthrown Konoha. It also revealed that members of other clans had been planning alongside the Uchiha, and they had also been silenced. The same part of the text told Sasuke to go to the Hokage immediately after he had read it to get a full explanation, and Hiruzen too knew about it.

Sasuke was initially angry with his brother for what he had done and would have thrown away the note, without ever reading the second part had it not been for Naruto.

Naruto woke up a couple of days after Miesha knocked her unconscious, rolling around lazily in her bed until she felt a warm presence, which she snuggled up against in her sleepy morning state. "Mmh... five more minutes..."

The wheels in her mind started turning. Warm presence. Muscular. Her fingers started wandering. Shoulders, neck, chin... face... scars, wait... three on one side... Her eyes flew open and she sat straight up, turning her head to look at the boy sleeping next to her.

The next words she uttered could be heard across half of Konoha as she yelled in the loudest voice that came to her. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!" That promptly woke up the spiky-haired blond boy with intensely blue eyes. He blinked once, twice and then looked at the girl. "Ah! What the hell happened to me! Why are you... why am I?"

They looked at one another confused, before a light-bulb blinked in their heads. "True Clone Jutsu!" They exclaimed in unison. The fox at the end of their bed yipped in approval of their deduction, unnoticed until now by both. "Kyuubi!" They both said, smiling at their 'pet', before they crawled over the bed to reach her. Kyuubi was in heaven as the two children started petting her, her three tails wagging happily.

A/N: I am annoyed. Very annoyed. Have any of you guys noticed how annoying the proof-reader on this site is? In the past it was decent, but lately I believe it's been acting up. I've not posted a lot, of course, but I have noticed at least on this latest... ahem... masterpiece... *shifty eyes* I've noticed that I can't write 'with' and not get told it's wrong. Most words that end with th have that problem, and that is annoying. Very annoying.

Yeah, my pal Magroth suggested I'd try to remove the th in with, and replace it with þ instead. Well what do ya know, it worked. Apparently, wiþ is not wrong to the spellchecker, looks mighty wrong to me, but I'm just sayin'.

To those that don't know, þ is the icelandic letter that represents the sound th also creates. Just so you know. So from now on, all th will be replaced by þ, please look forward to it!

On to the story itself! It's looking kinda messy, mainly because I wrote, rewrote, added and rewrote again this chapter, over the course of six months. This is the last chapter I have sort-of pre-written, so from here on out, it's all on a chapter-to-chapter basis. I might take suggestions sometime too, if I can't decide on my own.

Naruto the girl and Naruto the boy. They're both alive and kickin', and YES, this is how it will be. It was intended from the start, and it will continue onwards like that. Eventually you may see only the original, that depends how much I change the story.


	7. Chapter 7

I do NOT own Naruto or any other Anime/Manga/etc. If I did, I'd definitely not sit writing this, that's for sure.

**Chapter 7:**

**School Days  
**

"C'mon, hurry up sis!" The spike-haired boy was practically bouncing back and forth in the hallway outside the currently quite overpopulated Uzumaki apartment. Naruto the boy was clad in an orange and blue hoodie, blue cargo pants and black fingerless gloves, a backpack hunched over his shoulders and an eager grin plastered on his face. It was the first day of school, and both Naruto twins were looking forward to it.

"Yes yes, don't stress me out little brother. I'm ready now, so keep your pants on." The elder twin said. Naruto the girl appeared from around the corner and gave a dazzling smile to her brother, giggling at his stunned expression. Having two perverted women as teachers and surrogate mothers did not bode well for Naruto's decency, as reflected in how she dressed, basing her looks on Miesha's shadow-smoke outfit. A tight tank top over her budding femininity, a miniskirt only slightly longer than her Sensei's counterpart, matching gloves as her boy clone and also a few accessories, a belt just hanging slightly drooped on her hips and a kunai-shaped hairclip holding most of her hair back in a ponytail leaving her stomach bare and revealing most of her legs. Yep, she would definately turn heads.

A few months had passed since the appearance of Miesha and Shodan and their intrusion on Naruto's life and now school was starting. Naruto had recieved very intense training to get up to speed with what most of the children at school should already know, like etiquette, morals, manners and behaviour. At the same time, Naruto had been adviced strictly not to cause trouble because of the stigma surrounding the Kyuubi. They surmised it would be best if Naruto 'flew under the radar' as they called it.

The Uzumaki twins had, over the course of the past months as their intellect flourished (and with the help of one Shikamaru Nara), come up with a couple of plans or ideas for how they could win the village over. They had decided on keeping the plans a secret for now, although their first one began with school.

Hyuuga Compound, about the same time...

"Hinata, are you ready to go?" The voice of Hyuuga Neji rang through the hall where the rooms of Hinata and Hanabi Hyuuga were located. Neji was waiting for the heir of the Hyuuga clan to finish preparations for the first day of school, although in his opinion she was taking a good deal longer time then she needed to. He was quite sure it had to do with one Naruto Uzumaki and although he didn't mind the idea of those two together, it still irked him that someone other than him was in any way near his cousin. He figured he was probably just a tad bit overprotective of her, which was his mission as stated by both his uncle and his father.

"Sorry I made you wait, Neji." The indigo-haired girl smiled and looked at Neji. "D-did I make you wait too long?" The shy heiress, although her lessons in confidence and self-reliance from Hizashi was helping, she had not lost her stuttering completely or recovered from the loss of her mother. Her family was a broken one, more so by those stupid Hyuuga laws she wanted to see gone but yet she still saw it as a good thing. Life experience makes a person grow, and Hinata wanted to grow into a strong, capable woman like her mother who would lead her clan into the future.

But that was the future. First and foremost she would have to become a ninja. She would become strong, and she owed it all to Naruto. To her, Naruto was the epitome of courage and strength and she would do her best to become as heroic as him. Most of her clan did not like those thoughts though. She shrugged off that fact as she walked to the Academy alongside Neji. All in due time.

Classroom 1C, homeroom teacher: Iruka Umino. Number of students: 31

Iruka was currently counting heads, seeing who was present for the first day of school. He only had four students left, looked like they were all present. He doted down another P (for Present) on his notebook and continued. "Sasuke Uchiha!"

"Here." came the monotone reply.

"Tomoki Uchiha!"

"Here, Sensei!" An overly eager girl's voice replied. He cringed, he could smell trouble from this one.

"Uzumaki Naruto-chan!"

"Present." Came a neutral reply, he looked and saw the blonde girl picking dirt from under her fingernails, apparently uninterrested.

"Uzumaki Naruto-kun!"

"I'm here, believe it!" Came the boisterous reply from the blond boy next to the girl. He didn't know the Kyuubi brat had a sister, but apparently so it was. He shrugged it of as irrelevant and noted down they were all present and accounted for. Now if only Naruto and Tomoki didn't become friends, he could have some control on this class. If only he knew...

"Alright class. Welcome to the Ninja Academy. Here you will learn all the basics you need to begin your career as ninjas. Our Hokage, in his wisdom, has recently reformed the Academy system, you will be the second generation to try out the new, improved structure of learning. One out of four weeks a month, you will be placed on a temporary team consisting of two other academy students, and you will be watched over by a Chuunin or available Jounin sensei while performing D-rank missions to apply the basic skills you have learnt so far."

The class started whispering among itself, most of the students seemed very excited by these news. "Do not be too excited now class, D-rank missions are little more than chores. After six months, you will be eligible for high D-rank missions outside the village itself, but that only means more travel. It will help build up stamina and endurance though, and doing D-ranks is mostly to get to know the other possible team candidates. We will evaluate through mission reports given by your chunin or jounin sensei and, in combination with the scores from the tests throughout the semester, decide who you fit in with, thus which teams will be formed."

The Uzumaki boy and the Inuzuka were both holding up their hands. When Iruka noticed them and nodded to Inuzuka, they both blurted out a near identical question. "What about the payment from the D-ranks, Iruka-sensei?"/"Will we get paid for these missions?" He had to grin at them. He knew from personal experience that the Inuzuka were a clan mostly in name and status. Money wasn't an issue, but they weren't exactly wading in luxury either. And the Uzumaki twins were orphans like himself, so the question was not unexpected.

"You will of course be given full payment for the D-ranks. However, since you are still not legal age, or rather since you're not Genin yet, the money will be given to your parents or supervisors. Uzumaki twins, I would like to see the two of you after class regarding that, if you do not mind?" The girl looked up from the book she had picked out of her bags. So she did study, that's a good thing atleast. He was kind of worried that she was a completely aloof airhead, but his concerns seemed unwarranted.

"Of course we don't mind that, Sensei." Iruka nodded and smiled. The boy seemed to follow the girl's decisions as he now sat still and waited patiently. He noticed the Uchiha girl did the same, looking up to the ravenhaired so-called Uchiha prodigy, Sasuke, in adoration. He also noticed several girls looking at the darkhaired boy with heart-shaped eyes. This could be a problem but he had no rights to interfere in personal affairs and only give advice if it affected studies. It would require some looking in to.

"Well then. Classes are divided like this. On Mondays you will have history lessons with me as well as local language and dialects. Unlike a normal school, these subjects are vital to a ninja. You need to master the culture and history lessons in order to successfully mingle with native populations in various areas you might end up travelling to as Shinobi. And the language and dialects class is just as vital if you wish to successfully infiltrate other countries."

"On Tuesdays there's math and academic jutsu training. Knowledge of mathematics is important in and of itself, you see math in everything around you. It also helps when you try to learn the theories behind jutsu, so if you wish to design your own jutsu, it's very important that you know mathematics properly, or else your experiments could go horribly wrong. The Fourth Hokage is famous for creating his own jutsu, and he graduated as top of his class in mathematics." This, Iruka noticed caught the Kyuubi brat's attention, though his sister seemed indifferent.

Iruka kept droning on about the classes, during wedensdays it was mostly practical training such as academy basic taijutsu, although you were allowed to practice your own taijutsu you still needed to learn the academy basics and during sparring, only the academy form was allowed. Still, most of the academy basics were common moves used in many taijutsu forms around Konoha, even complete opposites such as the Hard and Gentle fist styles used moves from the academy style, or rather, the academy style used moves from them.

Thursday was also practical training, kunai and shuriken practice although students were free to choose if they wanted to practice that or the jutsu from theory class both days. On fridays they had "summary class" where they repeated what they had learned the past four days as well as gender-specific classes, Kunoichi training for girls and comparable classes for the boys much to everyone's embarrasment, followed by a written test after lunch and then they were done. The Academy lasted from 8.30am to 3.00pm every day except Fridays where they could leave whenever they finished the test.

A couple of weeks later both Uzumakis, Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata and Neji Hyuuga as well as Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akamichi were sitting on the roof of the Academy eating lunch. They had all sort of gravitated towards one another when school started. Most prominently, you rarely saw Hinata or Kiba without one of the Uzumakis accompanying them which was the cause for an explosion of rumors around school.

Kiba was downing the food in a competition with Naruto and Chouji, while the two girls were chatting and eating normally. Shikamaru was lying off to the side watching clouds and Neji was meditating next to him. The blonde was getting annoyed at her clone/brother and the three boys' boisterous claims that "I can eat more than you ever can!" and "In your dreams, furball!" "You'll never beat an Akamichi!" "Cant you three eat with more style?" Naruto-chan exclaimed in annoyance and bonked her brother over the top of his head, causing him to attempt eating food with his entire face, unsuccessfully.

Kiba roared with laughter as a pouty brother looked at the pony-tailed "goddess of class 1-C", as she had been nicknamed, omelette and rice covering half his face as he attempted a cute puppy eye look. It made him look like he had just been caught eating someone's favorite dish without their conscent and he was trying to get away with it. Kiba couldn't sit anymore, managing barely to put his food down on the ground before rolling away from it, clutching his stomach and laughing so the tears sprouted. Chouji looked mortified and mumbled something about spoiled food.

"Ackh! Akamaru, get offa' me!" The two girls were trying not to laugh at the pathetic sight but when the white furball decided to cannon-ball launch itself on poor Naruto the dam burst for them too, and the echoes of laughter could be heard across half the schoolyard, causing a few heads to turn towards the roof, although quickly dismissed as the schoolkids returned to their own lunches and discussions.

The victim of all this was trying to get the hungry puppy out of his face before he didn't have one anymore, although the lapping tongue was a just as good reason to attempt removal of the temporary facial feature. That tongue was wet and drooly and really disgusting, not to mention the dogs breath... "Gah!" He managed to unhook the puppy and threw him away as he clambered onto two legs, gasping a bit more than he really should have, putting on a show for his friends.

"I thought I was a goner for sure! Kiba, it's ALL your fault you know! And I still would have won the competition." The other boy just nodded, trying to contain his giggling and gasping for air as he clambered to his feet and got back to his food, sitting down and leaning against the fence again. "Sure sure, whatever you say dogfood." Chouji was still mortified. "All that food... Why...?" He was ignored however, probably because he was mumbling to himself and still managing to eat his own food in a slow manner while looking at nothing in particular.

Hinata was smiling at Naruto's antics. Being with all her friends really made her happy, and confident that she could complete anything she set infront of her. Especially Naruto-kun made her feel like that, she knew first hand how brave he really was, and even his sister agreed to that. "Hinata-chan! You would have saved me right?" The boy pouted and looked in her direction causing the young girl's heart to skip a beat. He was so cute!

"O-of course, Na-Naruto-kun!" She stammered out in reply, her stuttering returning full force. Hizashi would have sighed in resignation if he saw her now and she mentally cursed herself for losing her calm. "Thanks Hinata-chan! I knew I could count on you, unlike fuzzbutt here." "Hey, I object to that statement, I don't have a fuzzy butt. Akamaru does." At the last comment the hairball jumped at Kiba in protest, barking at him causing Kiba to grin. "It was a joke, little buddy you know that." He ruffled the puppy's head and the dog smiled at his owner, lying down in his lap.

"Awh man, my food is ruined too. Oh well, school's soon starting again anyways. Sis, are going for Ramen today or are we going for Ramen today?" He asked, just to reconfirm that he and his sister were going to devour some of the divine food after school. "Are you stupid little brother? Of course not! We're going for Icharaku's Ramen after school, you know that! Icharaku Ramen is much more than just Ramen, everyone knows that!" She mock-frowned at her clonebrother before grinning and punching his shoulder. "It appears school is starting again." Neji was standing up as he predicted this and soon after the bell rang calling the aspiring ninja-to-be back in to the afternoon session. "I have got to learn how he does that." Kiba whispered to Hinata as they trecked back to the classroom, and the Hyuuga only smiled. "Clan secret."

**INTERMISSION: Explanation of Naruto's Kage Bunshin and Enmei (Longevity) Bunshin**

Naruto's Enmei Bunshin is quite accurately described as just that, a clone. The one performing this jutsu can not be the same as the target of the jutsu and it requires very delicate and finely tuned chakra control since it builds a living being from the bottom up. Had it been classified, it would most likely end up a medical kin-jutsu (forbidden jutsu), since it has lots of medicinal uses although none of them would be morally sound. Orochimaru is known to use a variation of this jutsu, while not perfected it is more than useful enough. His version is also applied to himself which makes it even less accurate and can cause deadly side-effects.

The perfected Enmei Bunshin is a more accurate copy than any twins can ever be. The chakra is identical, fingerprints more than 99% identical and gender... usually identical. Due to Naruto's mishap with the Kyuubi, any Enmei Bunshin will become male, as Naruto's genetic makeup is still signing her as male despite the obvious physical and mental changes. This also allows for chakra transfer between the Enmei Bunshin and the original, which in turn allows the Kyuubi to gift either Naruto with her own chakra, if the two Narutos are in close proximity of course.

When Kyuubi brings out her chakra, Kage Bunshins will get destroyed because Kyuubi's chakra is not Naruto's chakra and thus acts much like a genjutsu release where one person sends his chakra into another person to disrupt the flow and break a genjutsu. This is just the same on a grander scale that breaks ninjutsu already in progress. If Kyuubi would have brought out her chakra while Naruto were performing some other jutsu, like Rasengan, it would have been disrupted and most likely exploded in Naruto's face.

Although memories and pain are not shared between the Enmei and the original, Kage Bunshin that is dispersed will grant all it's memories to both Naruto and her Enmei, regardless of which of the two made it. This allows them to communicate without words through the use of clones and plan strategies soundlessly. Two brains do think better than one in this case.

**End of Intermission.**

That same day at Icharaku's Ramen stand.

"Aaah..." The Uzumaki twins sighed in unison as they both put down their fifth bowl of Ramen on the counter, before rubbing their bloated bellies. "Now that is money well spent sis." Naruto said grinning, and his sister only nodded in reply, too stuffed to bother answering.

Icharaku smiled at the two as he picked up their bowls. "You two seem to be doing good these days. How are things going at the Academy?" The two blonds looked at each other and grinned at the question, replying in unison. "Everything's going just as planned, Icharaku-san!" To which the old man nodded and smiled. "Good, school is important for anyone, make sure you learn as much as you can and grow to fulfill all your dreams." He was of course unable to know what the two kids were planning and dreaming for the future, but even if he was he would probably advice them the same as he did.

On their way back, the Uzumaki siblings encountered the most gloomy face they had ever seen. Just seeing the dark, brooding look on Sasuke's face were enough to make them a little gloomy too and they would have ignored the boy completely if not for the them having heard about the Uchiha massacre a few weeks back and how Sasuke's brother was the perpetrator. Sasuke looked pissed of.

" 'Sup Uchiha?" Naruto asked non-chalantly as they strolled up to the darkhaired Uchiha who was gazing at the river. Sasuke mumbled something incoherent. "Yeah I completely agree, duckbutt! Owwie!" Naruto-chan punched her brother upon him insulting Sasuke and kicked him in the leg too for good measure. "Ow ow ow ow..." Her clone was hopping on one foot around the road, whimpering in pain. "What's with you, Uchiha? You look ready to kill someone. You should wipe off that look and get home to train, you know, one day that Uchiha might may not be sufficient enough to land you what you aim for."

"Why would my brother do such a thing?" Sasuke muttered, a piece of paper in hand, slightly surprised that he even bothered talking to the deadlast's sister. "Itachi was a prodigy, a once in a generation genius... Even now I'm expected to surpass him, and he's no longer here... He's the enemy now... Gah!" Sasuke tore at his hair. "I'm so confused. He said he'd explain it all in this letter, only I need the Sharingan to read anything out of it."

"Then what the hell are you sitting here whining for? Train yourself to the Sharingan then! It's not like things come naturally to people, you cant just sit and expect the world to open up everything for you. You need to work for it, and work hard for it. If you still can't do it, work even harder until you can!" Sasuke looked pissed off and ready to burst, growing even redder for each word, but eventually deflated before Naruto finished, nodding meekly at her.

"Cousin Shisui says the same thing. 'Because we are Uchiha, our main problem is that we expect everything to come to us.' Maybe... Maybe I should try to work for it... I'll ask Shisui if he can help me. Thanks Naru-chan... Unlike your brother you're very smart aren't you?"

Naruto smiled at the Uchiha and turned to leave, grabbing her brother by his earlobe and pulling him with her. "Just don't forget that hard work is the strongest and truest path to power, Uchiha. Come on brother, we're going to train too." "Ow-ow-ow-ow, uncle uncle! I giiiiiive...!" The poor blond boy yelled in his misery, still jumping on one leg after his sister.

"A goal huh, brother? I wonder what goal you have to slaughter half our family... Will my goal be worthy enough to let me know yours?... Does it even matter?" Sasuke shrugged and turned his nose homeward, pocketing the letter he had planned to feed the river with.

**A/N:** Helloes! Now this chapter has more or less been brooding just as much as a certain Uchiha for about a month. I was planning to double it in length, but I'm hard pressed to find any time and I'm losing my muse. She decided to inspire me to write a new story (once again), which I will also be posting. This one will be a crossover between Naruto and Starcraft and I hope it will be well accepted.

Now, there was an intermission in the middle there, a quick explanation about Naruto's clone but I feel I should elaborate a little. The Enmei Bunshin is not something people in the elemental nations know. Orochimaru invented a bastardized version of it in order to make himself immortal but as we all know, that failed him.

However, Miesha made a perfect genetic clone of Naruto, and Kyuubi didn't change Naruto's genes. Think of Kyuubi's changes to Naruto as a very advanced form of gender change. Gender changes in our world does not change the genetic makeup of a person, but alters the chemistry of the body. So Miesha's clone of Naruto was made without the changes and due to it being "godmade" it's defended against Kyuubi's hormones, so there wont be another incident like the first time Kyuubi lended her chakra. Kinda weak excuse but go with it, my story my rules and all that jazz. ^_^

So yeah, shorter story than I would like, but you've waited too long for this! I'll try to get another one out before the next year arrives, I do have some ideas. A little piece of juicy info: Madara will be acting sooner then in canon and Akatsuki will also make some moves.


	8. Chapter 8

I do NOT own Naruto or any other Anime/Manga/etc. If I did, I'd definitely not sit writing this, that's for sure.

Also, upped rating to M, you'll see why. Eventually there will be lots of things in this story making it deserve that rating anyway, so sowwies those who dont like that.

**Chapter 8:**

**Of Exams and Genin Placements**

"NARUTO!" Iruka yelled at the hyperactive boy, using his Demon Head jutsu to emphasise his anger. This time Naruto had really gone too far. Whenever his sister were not around, the boy went berserk trying to catch everyone's attention by pulling stupid pranks. Like painting the hokage monument into a festive assortment of colors. The remarkable thing about it though was that he had managed to do so in broad daylight without anyone noticing until he was done.

"What are you doing here Naruto?" The boy was visibly shaken by Iruka's outburst, that jutsu always got under his skin. "Ehehehe... Artistic inspiration compelled me?" Naruto attempted weakly and Iruka just sighed. "Class has started, come on Naruto. Really, what would your sister say to this..."

In class a hogtied Naruto was put onto the floor. He had attempted to escape when he realized his sister/creator would find out about his 'monumental' stunt. Naruto-chan buried her face in her hands, just sighing and vowing to teach her brother some manners. "Alright class, thanks to Naruto here, we'll be having a pop-quiz on the Henge no Jutsu! Line up everyone!" The entire class groaned as one but eventually lined up. One by one the kids walked up to the podium and performed the henge, turning into a replica of Iruka while the original wrote down notes on each of their performance.

When it was Naruto's turn, he grinned mischeviously and before his sister could object, the boy channeled a ton of chakra (way more than was really needed for the henge) and burst into a cloud of smoke that whisped away to leave a very naked, older version of his sister who started flirting with the class' teacher.

"I call this the Oiroke no Jutsu." The girl purred sensually as she lightly tapped the scar-carying Chunin's chest, causing Iruka to fly backwards and crashing headfirst into the blackboard curtesy of a massive nosebleed. Half a second later Naruto was pounded into the floorboards by a very angry twin. "You fucking PERVERT!" She growled as she stomped him to the floor, the boy whimpering and begging pitifully for his life, his jutsu cancelled out by the first blow. "Please, no not ther-IIEEEEEE!"

(I'll leave the details of the beatdown for you to decide. *shudders*)

After the class regained composure, and a very bruised Naruto could finally sit down again it continued. Iruka proceeded to explain that it was not long left until the academy students of this year, meaning them, would graduate to become Genin. Shikamaru grinned at the prospect, scaring the entire class apart from Naruto who was too stupid to worry, Naruto-chan who knew she could take him down if she needed and Sasuke who actually enjoyed Shika's craziness.

Iruka remained oblivious. During their time in the academy, all the students had become intimately familiar with the "new" Shikamaru. He was the first Nara to actually do something voulentarily, and he was widely known as Creepy Nara among the genin-to-be. Shikamaru had a habit of freaking people out, he seemed to enjoy frightening the other kids with death-threats, smirking as they got injured, inflicting said injuries during spars and otherwise being rather scary. Among all the genin hopeful Shikamaru was the only one who had not gotten torn up by Tora; the number one hated D-rank mission they ever had the misfortune of being assigned to.

Even Tora was frightened by Shikamaru. From the first time the pineapple-haired boy unleashed his bloodthirst upon the poor creature, stunning the cat just from his will to inflict harm alone, Tora had been as mellow as any regular housecat around him. So if even Tora, the "Terror of D-ranks" was scared of the Nara boy that left the genin-to-be without much hope. But Shikamaru's personality seemed to flip on a dime whenever there were adults nearby; Shikamaru appeared to be an angel in their eyes. He helped them with chores, complimenting the mothers on their new haircut or new clothes since with his intellect he remembered any and all details about the people he studied. And the Nara studied all the aspiring Genins, much to their fright.

So the news that they would all graduate to Genin made the entire class apart from a select few beg not to be put on the same team as the Nara or the Uzumaki boy. The first out of fear, the second because their parents said so. "So in two weeks, we will hold the Genin Exams. It consists of three tests, Taijutsu, Genjutsu and Ninjutsu. In the Taijutsu exam, you will be expected to show proficient use of the Academy style, or one taijutsu style of your choosing. You will be sparring with a Chunin, and he or she will judge your skills and give his evaluation along with me and Mizuki who will be watching."

"We will reveal what is expected from you in the Genjutsu exam when it starts, but it will be an individual test. The Ninjutsu will be a performance test like the Taijutsu, only individual. Myself, Mizuki and the Hokage will evaluate your skills using the three Academy ninjutsu, or two jutsu of your choice. One Academy jutsu is worth one point, one other jutsu performed correctly is worth two points. You need three points to pass but you can accumulate as many as you wish. It will help in determining who you will be placed with if we know your skill level."

As Iruka finished, the class was buzzing with excitement, and in Shino Aburame's case that was a literal statement. His bugs were making the boy vibrate, his excitement carrying over from host to symbionts. But this went quite un-noticed due to his position in the class, everyone talking with one another and the fact that he was nearly completely covered by his jacket and glasses. He did notice the Uzumaki girl casting a glance at him though, smiling.

"Miesha! Kyuubi-chan! The Genin exams are in two weeks!" Naruto hollered out as he entered his apartment, Naruto-chan trudging along behind him and kicking him in the back. "Shut up, dont scream out her name like that! Baka!" The boy groaned, but recovered quickly and ran into the apartment, screeching to a halt as he rounded the corner and promptly stormed back out. "We'll be back in an hour!" He called and pulled his sister along, her protesting and complaining that she hadn't even entered yet.

"Did you hear something, Kyu-chan?" A purplehaired head bobbed as she spoke from under the covers, and the only response was a soft moan from Kyuubi as she pushed Miesha back to the task at hand... or between her legs, as it were. Daevas weren't as terrible as she knew from the past, it seemed. She sighed contently.

Naruto had quickly in a hushed voice explained the situation to his sister and she was blushing from ear to ear at the prospect of what her two teachers might be doing to one another. Due to her brother's perverted antics she had a fairly good understanding of sexuality, not to mention the Kunoichi classes didn't go without embarrasment either. At present she had more knowledge of human anatomy then she cared to think about.

Trying to put the images of a fox-girl and shadow-clothed girl together in bed out of her head, she started contempating what kind of jutsus they would be using for the ninjutsu portion. She would be the only one doing the ninjutsu part. If everything went as she hoped it would, her brother would get an automatic pass due to him being a jutsu. If not, they were both screwed.

Screwed... No! Focus! She shook her head vehmently. Damn her brother. She looked at him only to see him drooling at whatever thoughts he was having. She glared and smacked him in the head. "Stop thinking about those two and get to work! We need to practice our taijutsu you know."

Several hours later, two exhausted, bruised and dirty kids were sitting at Icharaku's Ramen Stand, wolfing down the bowls of divine food eagerly. Miesha smiled at her protegè from the shadows across the street. With the oncoming genin exam she would have to step up their training. So far she had only taught them chakra control, Kage and Enmei bunshins. Kyuubi had focused on teaching them the Fox Style taijutsu.

However, they had both perfected the twins in the tasks they had given them. Their chakra control was as good as they would ever get it, and their taijutsu style was more or less without any flaw. As a style it had several weak points to exploit of course but Miesha figured the twins would eventually notice that and learn other styles as well.

They were quite ready for the exam, she knew. But she wanted them to have surprises up their sleeves. Time-space warping? Elemental manipulation? She saw so many different possibilities within the energy matrix of the world. Too much for one person to learn. There were many ways to end up walking a path of corruption, that was the essence of daemon worlds of course. But there were some paths...

The smoke around Miesha embraced her completely and faded into the darkness, pulling the purple-haired girl along with it. Naruto-chan stopped wolfing down her ramen for a moment and looked behind her, peering directly at the spot Miesha had stood not a second earlier. "Hmm?" Seeing nothing, she shrugged and returned to her current mission which they codenamed 'Eat as Much Ramen as you Can!'

"You want us to WHAT!" The blond girl was furious. Miesha and Kyuubi had decided that she and her brother should individually succeed the genin exam without using any of their taught skills, only the academy basics. The academy bunshin being the exception, the kids could use kage bunshin instead due to their inability to use the regular bunshin. "Why do you want us to look like completely lame, mediocre students? We've been training so hard to show of our skills!"

Miesha was grinning like the cat who ate the canary at that statement and explained. "That's exactly why. When you get put onto a mediocre team, you and your brother will be able to complete the missions in record time, thus giving you both more time to practice and learn more skills. When someone higher up eventually realize you are more powerful then you let on, they will be more likely to accept you as a ninja because you show you are being skilled at deception, subterfuge and also, looking underneath the underneath in addition to being extremely powerful."

The twins nodded as they couldn't argue with the Daeva's logic. "Alright. So Academy taijutsu, Kawarimi, Henshin and Kage Bunshin then." Kyuubi cocked her head at her containers. "Henshin?" Naruto grinned. "It's actually a fluke. Me and sis can't do Henge either for similar reasons as the Bunshin, however with some of your chakra, and a load more of our own we use the Henshin instead which is nearly identical. The only difference is, it physically transforms us instead of just making us appear different. Not even Hinata or Kiba can see through it, they've tried. Shika says it's amazing and should be impossible."

Kyuubi nodded. "Just be careful about your output of chakra. Remember the chakra control lessons, no need to spend more chakra than you need." Kyuubi realized the geniousness of using her chakra to make an actual transformation. She would check more into that, perhaps they could learn some of her Kitsune Genjutsus...

Naruto bounced from one foot to the other as he watched the sparring. There were five chuunins sparring with the students, and the matches lasted roughly five minutes each, one ending every minute, giving the chuunins about one minute before the next to evaluate with Mizuki while Iruka was observing the others.

Both Uzumakis were busy studying their class' top students, the clain heirs and high-score students. Shino Aburame was mediocre at best, however he was the Aburame heir, so he was a bug-user. He would score perfect on the other two tests and pass. Kiba, ofcourse, nearly beat his chuunin examinator after having taken Naruto's lesson to heart and practice before he preach, he'd become really strong. Naru-chan actually blushed when the chuunin had to start fighting back and tore off the boy's jacket in the process, leaving the Inuzuka in only a mesh overshirt.

Sasuke Uchiha was the top taijutsu expert in the class. He utilized the Uchiha form flawlessly and he actually did defeat his chuunin examinator, much to the surprise of everyone present. But even more surprising was that the boy was smiling at the praise Iruka gave him. Sasuke never smiled! Both Naruto and Kiba looked at the sky in fear, was it falling?

The third highest ranking boy in taijutsu in their class, Chouji Akamichi, was performing quite good but without his family ninjutsu which his clan prided themselves on he didn't do as good as he could have done. Naru-chan smiled as she observed his match though, the boy had tenacity and a never-say-die spirit. That's the reason she liked Chouji, he was an honest, loyal friend and never gave up. He also supported Shikamaru always, despite being alienated from most other students because of that friendship.

The only other noticable male student was of course the afforementioned Nara, who freaked out the chuunin examinator through taunts and using a rather strange form of taijutsu that the chuunin couldn't defend against because it seemed to exploit any and all weak spots, the chuunin actually fled in fear after being put into the ground. Nobody realized that Shikamaru's genious allowed him to change his taijutsu on the fly, and due to his training he was able to switch between several taijutsu forms whenever he saw a weak spot one particular form could utilize. The taunting was just for fun.

Among the females, the two most prominent students were Hinata Hyuuga with her jyuken style that had the chuunin limping off the stage at the end, and Sakura Haruno who's basic academy style was perfect, along with the pink-haired girl's impossibly agile body that allowed for some rather unique moves the girl had added to the style herself, the Chuunin was quite roughed up at the end, and been unable to lay a finger on her.

Ino Yamanaka and Tomoki Uchiha also performed quite good although Tomoki managed to trip in her own feet once due to nervousness as her cousin was watching attentively. Sasuke just smiled encouragingly at her though. Naruto and Kiba once again looked to the sky, cowering before it as if shielding themselves from the inevitable fall. Ino performed some similar moves to Sakura but not as practiced or agile as the pink-haired girl.

The rest of the students performed in various degrees of terrible. The Uzumaki twins had been placed at the end of the line, so their turn came up almost at the same time. Once again sighing and cursing their secret sensei the twins stepped up and fought each their chuunin. Naru-chan, deciding to stretch her sensei's promise mimiced Sakura's earlier movements and even did or invented a couple of other moves that made the pinkette envious. The Chuunin was hopelessly outclassed by the academy student. They were not technically academy style forms, but they were not part of any other known taijutsu form she had seen either so it was a grey area.

Naruto too played the mimic game, having seen Shikamaru's stunts and using his own speed he dodged and blocked any move the Chuunin made against him, which were a good deal many more than the other students had suffered. It was to be expected, most chuunin knew Naruto as the Demon Brat, so it was a given that they would wish to beat him up when the chance presented itself. Naruto just smirked at the idea though and channeled a miniscule amount of Kyuubi's chakra, just enough to grow canines and red eyes.

The Chuunin panicked, giving Naruto plently of room to thoroughly lay down a beating on the man, to which Shikamaru cheered encouragingly on. "Kick the troublesome guy's ass Naruto! Though... Leave some for me too will ya?" That wild grin appeared again and most of the genin hopefuls shuffled a few feet away. Naru-chan was grinning too, a side-effect of her brother drawing on Kyuubi was that her own features changed along with his, and vice versa held true too. "You see... My brother and I, we share a special bond... Whenever he gets angry, for some reason I get so eager to hurt someone." She said nonchalantly and upped her speed.

While the academy taijutsu style was rather basic and easy to discern especially to those who already knew it (meaning most ninja in Konoha), neither of the two chuunin examinators ever managed to put a hand on the Uzumaki twins during the test, or ever dared to again in the future. The Chuunins were rather beat up in the end, but they still stood. "Excellent work everyone! Tomorrow we'll have the gen and ninjutsu tests with your results granted at the end. Good work everyone!" Iruka said and gave his students a big smile and thumbs up, not showing any concern for the twins' frightening display.

The next day while waiting for the exam to start, Naruto and Naru-chan were maybe just a little bit worried. Genjutsu was their worst subject and this test was also the one nobody was prepared for, they could encounter anything inside that room. Also every student noticed while they sat in the hallway outside the exam room that nobody ever came out of the room once they had entered. It was starting to make them all a little nervous as one by one, students went in and disappeared.

Up came Naru-chan's turn and she entered the large room. It looked similar to their own classroom apart from one door to the side. She saw the door close but caught a glimpse of the back of Tomoki's head and relaxed a little. "Welcome Naru-chan." Mizuki said, smiling at the girl. "The genjutsu test is actually quite simple. You have two minutes to find out what is wrong in this room and release the genjutsu. Every student's test is different though. Go."

Naru-chan looked around. A potted plant in each window, the desks, walls with generic paintings and tests, the blackboard with Genjutsu Exam written on it... She looked hopeless for a moment until she sighed. "I'm sorry I can't find it, so I'll just do this." Charging up a large amount of chakra she sent it pulsing outwards in all directions, a disruptive shockwave that broke the genjutsu on a single plant in the window that was actually withered. Had she looked closer she would have seen that each plant had one or more leaves lying around it, and this plant's leaves were dead while the plant looked healthy.

But she didn't and instead bruteforced her way out of the genjutsu exam. Pointing to the plant she smiled. "Found it." A stunned Mizuki just pointed to the door. "Pass through the door for the next exam. Wait in the room until you're called up."

As Naru-chan exited the door she wondered if her brother would manage the genjutsu exam. She figured he would know once she made the kage bunshin in the Ninjutsu exam either way so if he hadn't realized by then, he would.

Naruto entered the room after his sister exited, since the little lightbulb in the hallway switched from red to green signaling the next student to come in. Once again he was the last to approach, but he didn't worry that much. His sister would have made a commotion if anything was wrong since they couldn't be affected by genjutsu thanks to the Kyuubi acting like a disrupting source within them. Genjutsu on something other than his internal senses were still capable of fooling them though, which they had in Naru-chan's case. Not that he knew that, yet.

Being given the same test he looked around and didn't notice anything particular. A bunch of dead plants, the desks, nonspesific plants and various record exams on the walls, the blackboard... He pouted. "I can use any means to find out right? Even ninjutsu?" Mizuki nodded. "Any means neccessary, Naruto." Naruto formed a handseal and spawned a couple of kage bunshin and sent them throughout the room. Although he knocked a third one out so it poofed. "Too many is just a nuisance." He mumbled.

Naru-chan grinned and made a single clone that poofed away in a split second while inside the waiting room. Outside Naruto smiled and the clone closest to the plants waved a hand. "Boss! Look here!" Continuing the facade, Naruto walked over and, giving the plants a look, he channeled his chakra to drop the genjutsu on the plants, revealing the healthy ones and one still dead. "Is this it then, Mizuki?"

The chuunin examiner smiled and nodded. "Skilled work, Naruto. Your sister is through that door, you can enter but you got to wait until she is done before following her. You'll be called out when it's your turn." Naruto nodded and walked over to the door, entering and grinning widely at his sister.

"Good work, brother." She smiled too, but her name was called up before she could say anything. Then her brother's name was called up too, and puzzled they both entered. "Uhm, yes? You called both of us?"

At the desk sat Iruka and Mizuki, as well as the Hokage fully dressed in his white and red robes with the pipe lying at the table infront of them. "I decided to let the two of you take the final exam together, since I figure, since that boy is actually a jutsu of yours you'd be inclined to be on the same team as him, am I wrong?" The Hokage smiled warmly at the twins who were a little shocked that he knew about the Enmei.

"Uhm... Hokage-sama, how did you..?" Naruto started but couldn't find the right words to continue. "Ah don't worry, a little divine bird told me, and explained the reason too. Seeing as he is your clone though, Naru-chan, that gives you an automatic 2 points out of a needed number of six. Six because there is still two of you, from what I understand of that jutsu. So now that you performed the first jutsu, want to continue?"

Naruto stepped up. "She doesn't only know me, though. She also knows this one." Forming a cross with his fingers, two clones popped into existence. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto said proudly. Iruka looked intrigued while the Hokage smiled secretly, having been the one to teach Naruto the basics of that jutsu."Kage Bunshin you say? Step up here." Mizuki motioned for a clone to approach. The clone walked up and put out his hand so they could all feel it. "I see. So you did master it, good work." The Hokage said and smiled. So far the twins had been regular students while in their class, Naruto actually going as far as being the school joke and yet, these two kids infront of them looked to be on another level entirely!

"Naruto!" His sister whacked him over the head. "We promised, remember? Now look what you did, go and reveal the Kage Bunshin like that." Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Uhm... sorry sis, I kinda forgot that."

"Oh well. Go over there." She pointed to the other corner of the room and once he got into position, they switched place. "Kawarimi no Jutsu." They both said. "Both of us know it, just a little hard to show who's performing it when it's us who switch." They looked around and both noticed the forehead protectors lying on the table. They switched with one each, sitting crouched on the desk. "We could do this though." They said in unison, having popped up infront of Mizuki and Iruka respectively. Naruto was grinning hugely at the mortified look on Mizuki's face. "Sorry, must've scared ya half to death." The whitehaired chuunin shook his head although his face was rivalling his haircolor at the moment.

"Very good. You already have the six points required to pass. Do you know the Henge?" They both nodded and turned into perfect replicas of Iruka and Mizuki, not bothering to reveal that they become actual physical copies instead of just a genjutsu wall around their original selves. "Very good then! You dont have any more jutsus to reveal? It could get you on better teams."

"Sorry Iruka-sensei, but we dont know any other jutsus yet. But dont worry, we'll do good just the same!" The twins smiled and picked up the forehead protectors they switched with earlier from the floor they ended up on. "We'll be taking these then, right?" The Hokage nodded and smiled. Those two sure were lively, he thought. "I'll leave the teachers in charge of making the teams then, I got other buisness to attend to. Farewell."

Later in the teacher's lounge. "What do you think?" One of the teachers asked as he showed the rest of the present people his idea for the genin teams. "Hmm... I think I would be more partial to this suggestion." Another said and gave his own list of names. Iruka looked over the presented ideas with a slight frown. In either team listing's case the Uzumaki twins appeared to be put alone.

He hadn't come up with any decent ideas himself due to the irregular number of students and Mizuki didn't seem too eager to suggest a list himself so they didn't have any other choice but to vote for one of the other teachers' idea.. He looked them over while considering, accepting the third idea presented by the math teacher although he immediately rejected it in his mind for being elitist and favoring the smartest kids by placing them on same teams. That sort of shit would never fly with the Hokage anyway.

"I'm going to have to go with this one myself." He eventually decided and pointed to the first suggested teams. "Mizuki, how about you?" The white-haired teacher looked over the lists one more time and then nodded. "I agree, it seems to be the fairest decision." After a quick vote Iruka and Mizuki bowed to the other teachers of this year's genin hopeful and left with the team suggestions they would present to the Hokage.

"Team 7:

Naruto Uzumaki (F)

Naruto Uzumaki (M)

Team 8: ..."

Iruka sighed in annoyance. "What's wrong Iruka?" Mizuki gave his friend a concerned look. "I just don't think these teams are fair at all to Naru-chan and her brother." Mizuki nodded. "True enough. But face it, why do you think the other teachers would approve of those two at all? I think it's safer for all involved if they are on their own team, at least for now." Iruka couldn't argue with that, he figured he would try talking to the Hokage about it after they presented the team suggestions.

"Those lousy, good-for-nothing teachers! I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind, see if I won't!" Miesha gave her brother a piece of her daemon cloak. "Hold me, or bad things WILL happen!" Shodan grasped the offered piece of cloth and held his sister back while she raged. "Let me at 'em! Let me show 'em, I'll bash them REAL good, let me at them!" Shodan let go of the cloak at her insistence and she fell face first into the floorboards. "Ouch! I told you to hold it! Why'd ya let go?" She pouted and rubbed her nose. Shodan just shrugged at her.

"Well, I guess I should at least accompany them then." Kyuu said, getting up from the chair. An empty container of instant ramen stood on the table. "If the Inuzuka can have ninken dogs, why cant the Uzumaki have ninken foxes?" She gave a devious grin as she morphed into her fox form, her hair flowing down her back to turn into her three tails as the sound of bones cracking and changing place. To any mortal it would probably sound gruesome, but the Daeva siblings looked on impassively as Miesha mulled it over.

"I guess that should work. Unfortunately it might cause our protegès to be even more alienated from their peers... I believe they would need a sensei that wont judge them by word of mouth alone. I think I know just the one, Shodan! Find that wannabe clone of mine, what's her name again Mitsu.. Mito... Errh..." She sweatdropped, animestyle, and just sighed. "You know what I mean!"

Shodan blinked his eyes twice, his eyecolor switching from pitch black to a luminescent glow, projecting images that flashed each time he blinked. It eventually settled on a purple-haired woman wearing a trenchcoat, fishnet clothing, ninja sandals and shinguards. Miesha assumed she didn't even wear any underwear. She sighed. "I'm gonna have a little chat with her. Zoom out so I can see roughly where she is."

Another blink by Shodan and the view switched to the planet itself. Miesha eyetwitched. "I'm warning you...!" He gave a tiny smile in response, but another blink of his eyes and the projection was showing a dango shop at the outskirts of Konoha. "I'll be back tonight. Don't wait up kids." She gave a grin as the shadows around her wrapped around her and she poofed away.

**Author's Notes:**

I had someone asking me about the Enmei. I guess having an intermission during the middle of a chapter was a poorly chosen idea. Allow me to explain a bit more about Enmei and Henshin. The Enmei Bunshin would be a "pure" form of Orochimaru's self-replicating technique as seen when he spits out a complete copy of himself. The Enmei Bunshin is alive and breathing, with it's own chakra system, own cells and organs and brain, but sharing the same soul as the original. This makes the Enmei a rather scary jutsu because of the immortality factor. As long as you have an Enmei Bunshin, you wont die even if your true body is destroyed. This is the reason Orochimaru pursues techniques like that, and not to spoil anything but yes, he will drool at it.

The Enmei cannot be created by the person who wants to copy him/herself, it requires an unprecedented focus and chakra control that even Tsunade of the Sannin would have trouble with. Combined with the fact that the jutsu would take a week of constant "channeling" for a regular person to not die of bloodloss, lethargy or chakra exhaustion during the process makes the jutsu very unsuited for anything other then medical purposes. At least that's what I would imagine. Also of important note, you cant have too many Enmei at the same time, since it divides your soul between the bodies. Think Voldemort from Harry Potter.

And you might've noticed I added a new jutsu instead of the Henge. We've all heard the theory that Naruto turns into an actual girl when using the Oiroke, instead of it being a regylar henge jutsu. Of course this is actually proven wrong in the anime at least, where Naruto fights Ebisu (episode 2, gogo watch.) however I like to believe Naruto is incapable of using a genjutsu-like ability like that. (I imagine both Bunshin and Henge are somewhat genjutsu-like since it involves fooling others into believing something, plus they require miniscule chakra (which means greater chakra control) at least I would assume so due to them being academy jutsus.

Anyways, the Henshin is my name for the fandom Oiroke, where it transforms the user into a physical copy. It uses chakra while in effect, but it woulf fool anyone without a doujutsu. Rinnegan, Byakugan and Sharingan can all see chakra in one way or another. It also uses a bit of Kyuubi's chakra to mask smell and sound. Henshin if you wonder means Transformation. Enmei means Longevity.

I wont bother going into too much detail about jutsus I create in the future since I personally thing it's annoying when I see others do it, however ask and ye shall recieve. I'd be willing to write 'em up if people want to see them. I'm gonna come with a bunch of jutsus based loosely on existing ones, like variations of the shadow jutsus for Shikamaru, new ice jutsus for Haku, variations of the Rasengan etc etc. Also, an appology: The jutsus will at times, perhaps, randomly be written in english or japanese. I will not change that, since I believe the situation calls for the word of the moment. At some times, the japanese jutsu names will be AWESOME, just perfect for the scene while other times the english jutsu name will totally rock my pants off and I just feel forced to go with it. If you dont like that, my appologies but I won't do it differently.

Mostly they will be japanese though. I never quite liked Spiralling Sphere, for example. Sounds completely off the whack.

Yes, two chapters in less than a month. Daniel will be pleased. I'll try and see if I cant get another chapter up around christmas time. Oh, and there might be omakes in the future too! Magroth keeps spawning these wild, random ideas that are too insane to actually put into the story, but I -really- wanna share them with you guys so they might appear yes. ^_^ Enjoy for now!


	9. Chapter 9

I do NOT own Naruto or any other Anime/Manga/etc. If I did, I'd definitely not sit writing this, that's for sure.

Also, what do you think of the new summary? I thought the old one was a bit... non-descriptive of the story, or poorly worded. Just pointing it out! ^_^

**Chapter 9:**

**Discoveries**

Anko Mitarashi was enjoying a rare sensation. She was waking up next to someone she'd spent the night with, something she rarely experienced due to her reputation and/or excentric personality. Usually whoever she was with woke her up in the middle of the night while sneaking out. She snuggled closer to the warm body next to her, letting out a happy sigh.

"Good morning." The voice was hushed, barely above a whisper but she could still feel the emotions rolling off of it, making her insides melt with happiness. "Mmh... Good morning, Mie-chan. I really enjoyed last night." The snake summoner mumbled in her half-asleep state and purred as warm, soft fingers caressed her back.

"Did you consider my offer, Anko-chan?" The Daeva asked, feeling a small hint of pride for how she had managed to seduce the young Tokubetsu Jounin without using any of her conscious divine gifts. She always hated abusing her powers, and as such, her "Divine Edict" aura, an ability inborn in all Daeva was significantly weaker then others of her kin, while her brother was a master of it and could control it's power and strength with but a thought. (*)

So in essence she had used nothing but the good old words to talk the young woman into bed. Mie had also made the jounin aware of her true reason for approaching the dango-loving woman, so she guessed this had been a kind of negotiation proccess as well as an evening of pleasure.

"Hmm... I've never had anything to do with those kids, but the old geezer's been pushing me to take a team for years now... I cant promise I will be the best Sensei there is, but I will voulenteer to the Hokage to take those two under my wing. They're much like me at any rate, I guess that's why you want me to take care of them." Anko smiled and pecked her seducer on the cheek. "Mmh... Could you do that trick with your tongue again...? I -really- loved the way you did that..." She whispered playfully to the Daeva who could only grin as they resumed where they ended things the day before.

Later that morning, Naruto and Naru-chan were on their way out to get some new ninja gear from one of the few stores that accepted them. Ever since Kyuubi's stage one changed Naru-chan she had been a lot more conscious of her looks. She now had a decent sized wardrobe of clothes, as did her brother much to his annoyance as he didn't really care about looks and clothing. Without her and their divine senseis, Naruto would probably still have looked like a walking target practice in that orange jumpsuit.

Luckily the girls had burned it and filled up his closet with clothes and gear befitting a shinobi. Naru-chan and Naruto had near identical shinobi attire, black and dark blue, some dark green spots thrown in here and there in camo style blobs, the top part skin-tight but silent and easy to move in, cargo pants also made of a material that made less sound as they moved as well as matte black shinguards and fistguards, sewn into the material of their fingerless gloves. The only real difference was the cut, as one was made for the female body and the other for male body.

The Kyuubi had really sparked their bodies into early development too, which annoyed Naru-chan. Especially her period had come as a major surprise. She was just glad it didn't hurt as much as she had heard and thought it would. Cramps and such, she barely noticed them. Just enough to know it was that time again when it came around. Her chest itched a lot though, which had been a pain during D-ranks that required a lot of movement and she surmised it would be just as annoying when they started their C-ranks.

Naruto and Shodan cleverly evacuated the apartment most of the time during "the week" as their male instincts told them it was about time to initiate the age-old instinct of "fight or flight". They slept with an eye open during the night and awoke before sunrise to find some place to hang out, train or just plain hide.

But currently that time of the month was far away, and the Uzumaki twins were headed to their favorite shop, the same place they had gotten their gear. They wanted to have their forehead protectors altered and as they entered the shop they noticed a girl sitting at the counter instead of the grown woman they were used to.

"Uh, escuse me?" Naru-chan asked. "Is Shigure-san around?" The other girl turned her attention towards the twins. She was a rather tall girl wearing some sort of sleeveless chinese shirt in a soft pink color and blue cargo pants, with chocolate brown hair tied up in twin chinese buns and a forehead protector visible between her bangs that hung loosely down on both sides of her face, barely reaching the level of her eyes.

"Oh sorry, mom is on a buisness venture and wont be back until a couple of days. She gave me the responsibility of watching the store until she gets back. Can I help you with anything? Ah, my name is Tenten, by the way. Tenten Shigure." The girl bowed her head politely at the Uzumakis who returned the gesture. "Naru-chan Uzumaki, this is my brother Naruto."

"A pleasure to meet you." The genin smiled at the twins. "So, what can I help you with?" They both moved up to the counter and put down their forehead protectors. "We want these changed into a non-reflective, dark color. Green or black prefered, can you do it?" Tenten mulled it over for a bit, picking up the protectors and examining them. "Sure, I could do that. But I'm not as good as my mom, so it will take a couple of days."

Naru-chan just smiled. "That's great, our genin placements aren't until the end of next week, so they will be done by then?" Tenten nodded. "Oh sure, no problem. It'll just take two-three days, return on tuesday and I will have them ready for you." "Great, thanks a bunch Tenten-chan!" Naruto said and beamed happily at the girl who blushed at the suffix. "Uhm, no problem. Mom said you two are favored customers here, so I'd be honored to help you. Mom will be back by the time I'm finished too, so you can discuss the price with her then."

The twins turned to leave. "Thanks, Shigure-san." Naru-chan said as they leave, the brunette girl waving at them before putting the protectors away for work later. She always did wonder how mom could work the smithy and watch the counter at the same time, but guessed it was his trade secret or something. In actuality, it was just the Kage Bunshin technique, display of incredible skill that the woman could actually use such a high-level ninja skill without even being registered as ninja or having recieved formal training.

Meanwhile, at the Hokage office...

"Hokage-sama, I implore you to do something about Naruto-san and Naru-chan's team. It doesn't really seem fair that they're alone like that." Iruka was arguing for Naruto and Naru-chan to get some sort of recognition when Anko knocked on the door. Wondering who would disturb them in the middle of a meeting, Sarutobi called the person inside.

"Ah, Anko-san. Perfect timing, I've just recieved a list of aspiring genin and I would like it if you could take it upon yourself to take a team under your tutelage?" The Hokage formed the sentence as a question, knowing Anko was vehmently against the idea of apprenticeship due to her past, so he was surprised at the next thing the young woman said.

"Hokage-sama, I wish to request the Uzumaki twins as my genin team. As you know it's my first time doing something like this so fewer numbers means I can get to know them faster and better, plus I think I can relate to them better then anyone in the village." Iruka had lost all incentive to argue with the Hokage for the childrens' placements. This woman had just requested to be the Sensei of the village's most infamous children without a second's hesitation.

He of course recognized her as Anko Mitarashi, the apprentice of the traitor, Orochimaru. But just like he didn't blame Naruto or his sister for Kyuubi, he didn't blame her for Orochimaru's betrayal. It didn't feel right blaming someone for the sins of others. "Uhm... Mitarashi-san, are you certain about this?" He gave her a questioning look. "As I was just explaining to Hokage-sama, I strongly believe those two should be given a teammate as it does not seem fair to place two genin, no matter their skills, alone like that."

Anko admired how the chunin had avoided any form of insult with the formulation of that sentence while still expressing his concerns for putting the village's "dark secret" in solitary confinement. "Dont worry. I'm certain I can make up for the missing teammate with something they might enjoy." Iruka looked uncertain, but conceeded. "Well, I'll relent on the matter then." While he was thinking it would be better for the children to have a willing sensei then to be placed on a team with one or two reluctant partners.

The Hokage smiled. "Request granted, Anko. May I ask what brought this on?" The purple-haired Jounin Sensei smiled secretly. "Let's just say I had some... divine inspiration." She said with a dreamy smile and the Hokage left it at that, not daring to press his luck or health by questioning this woman's habits or behavior. "Dismissed, then." He shook his head when they left. "Those two really shake things up. I'm getting too old for this."

He knew of course that the currently reciding Daeva in Konoha had something to do with Anko's sudden change. The Hokage had some experience with Daeva and their abilities as he had encountered a lone travelling Daeva in the past along with his teammates Koharu and Homura. They prefered to keep the encounter and the events that unfolded to themselves, however they respected the Daeva as a species due to this encounter and would be unlikely to deny hospitality should the meet any more of them.

The Daeva of course would be the reason why Hiruzen's old teammates entered after Iruka and Anko left. "When were you going to tell us about the Daeva, Hiruzen?" Koharu asked, making the Hokage relax. The Daeva were a subject they would all agree on meaning he wouldn't have to argue with his old friends this time. He really felt he was getting to old for this job.

"I figured they're a subject I wouldn't need counceling on since we're all more or less in agreement about their species, right?" The two council members nodded. "However, we would like to meet them. Having two Daeva as guests, and for a three year period at that. It's certainly a privilege few can claim to have experienced." Homura said with a smile.

"They seem to have taken a strong liking to Naruto, most likely due to the Kyuubi. I'm not certain what to make of it though, you'd have to talk to them if you wish to know why." Both council members expressed some concern at knowing the Daeva took an interrest in the Jinchuriki. "Perhaps a meeting with the Daeva and the Jinchuriki would be in everyone's best interrest?" Koharu suggested after a while. "I'll see if they're willing." Hiruzen replied. The rest of the afternoon was spent with the three reminesencing about past exploits and in the Hokage's case also spent withering down the bane of all Kages, paperwork.

The Fifth Mizukage was looking over some paperwork herself. Mei Terumi was a very attractive woman just reaching the prime of her life, and she found herself with the irritating task of repairing a country after a reign of terror at the hands of Yagura, her predecessor. Yagura was a child prodigy and the container of the three-tailed Bijuu, however he had been defeated at the hands of rebellious ninja upset with what the boy had done to the country as well as bloodline users sick and tired of being prosecuted for what they were born with.

Mei was one of them, the leader of a powerful group of self-taught bloodline using ninjas. Eventually she came to be the leader of a larger group of rebels, ninjas and bloodline users alike and they managed to overthrow their oppressor, though the victory came suddenly and unexpectedly. Mei was chosen to lead Kiri after the bloody civil war was over, but she feared Kiri might never fully recover.

It was important to show strength else their enemies Kumo and Konoha would figure Kiri to be easy prey not to mention the requests for missions would decrease in favor of the other countries. Mei had considered sealing the Sanbi into a new container but chose not to, leaving the Sanbi to roam at the border of Kiri. Then there was the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist. It was well known in Kiri that Kisame was the reason they disbanded.

Kisame had a grudge against people and also desired to fight strong opponents. He eventually up and left Kiri during the civil war while the other swordsmen were split down the middle. Zabuza went on a campaign to gather funds to build an army against Yagura and never recieved the word that the war was over, instead being branded as a missing-nin. Mei also didn't know Zabuza was on her side and continued sending hunter-nins after him as well as the other four swordsmen who either left or followed Yagura. Two had been brought to justice already.

Raiga was another thorn in her side. The man had holed up close to the Land of Fire, too far away for her hunter-nins to travel safely, not to mention he was one of the three strongest members together with Zabuza and Kisame. She was annoyed. If only those men were here, the country could be restored much faster. Their reputation was well known. "Call Tai and Roku. I've got missions for them."

A few days later, Naruto and Naru-chan were sporting funky new forhead protectors and were sitting in the classroom waiting for their team placements although their focus was slightly off. "Good morning everyone! Today is the day you all become Genin of Konoha. I will call up all of you in groups of two or three, I ask that you get to know each other before your Jounin sensei arrives to pick you up. Team one:..."

Naru-chan was dozing off as Iruka called out each team. Miesha and Kyuubi had pushed them really hard the past few days after they passed the exam and only let them off easily yesterday due to them having to be present at school. But both twins were rather excited about who they would be teamed with and who their sensei would be. Things would be awesome from now on. Due to her daydreaming she almost missed her name. "...and Naru-chan Uzumaki." "Huh?"

She was about to ask what team as Iruka continued. "Team Eight will consist of-" "WAIT A MOMENT!" Naruto was standing atop his desk looking rather annoyed. "Whatcha mean only me and sis? There's gotta be a mistake, right?" Iruka looked at the upset Genin appologetically. "Sorry but no. Now please sit down, Naruto. Where was I? Team Eight consists of Sasuke Uchiha, Kiba Inuzuka and Ino Yamanaka..."

Naruto looked annoyed. "Didya hear that? We're on a separate team! Figures they'd do something like that, ne Sis, what should we do?" Naru-chan, having realized what was going on, was equally angry. She could see all her plans falling apart from this one incident she hadn't foreseen. She realized she needed to become a lot smarter if she were to plan things as well as a Nara, something she had to be able to for the title of Hokage.

"It doesn't matter, brother. We'll show them anyway." She said in a hushed voice as Iruka finally finished. "Team 9 is still around from last year. Team 10 will then be..." Naruto and his sister where speaking to each other telepathically... or rather, they were actively summoning and desummoning henge'd kage bunshins in the blink of an eye, which to them had become second nature over the past few weeks due to the harsh training they had been under.

After Iruka finished with the teams he had been replying to the questions of the Genin but as there were no more he excused himself with some final parting words wishing them good luck. "So, any idea who we might get for a Jounin sensei?" Naruto asked his sister out loud. "I don't know, but I would just love getting Kakashi!"

Kakashi was somewhat of an idol of Konoha, a legendary ninja in his own right and student of the fourth Hokage. Since whomever became their Sensei would essentially give Naru-chan one-to-one training, having the strongest Jounin in Konoha as their Sensei would make them the strongest team. Or so they thought, little did they know of Kakashi's terrible habits of being late, lazy and perverted.

So while the twins would vehmently disagree for the next half a year or so, they were quite lucky when Anko Mitarashi walked in the front door and called Team 7 out to meet her at the Dango shop before disappearing in a puff of smoke well-known to them. They looked to each other before also disappearing in the same fashion, both having been Kage Bunshins with extra chakra pushed into them all along.

Over at Icharaku's the two Uzumakis finished up their Ramen and said their goodbyes to Teuchi and Ayame before heading in the direction of the Dango shop. "I wonder who that woman was." Naruto pondered, his hands resting behind his head as they walked. "Geez Naruto, we know who it was. We studied all the Jounin of Konoha a while back. She's that student of Orochimaru's remember?" Naruto gave an 'ooh' of recognition.

"That's right, Konoha's Snake Mistress. Interresting. She might not be any Kakashi, but she -was- the student of a Sannin. Wow... They gave you a powerful jounin sensei, sis!" Anko spoke up from behind them. "Actually I voulenteered for this." The twins jumped and turned around. "Geez you scared me!" Naru-chan exclaimed.

"A ninja should be alert at all times." Was the response they got as the woman sailed past them in the direction of her vice, dango. They had been getting pretty close to the shop already, so after a minute or so of keeping up with Anko as her speed increased gradually more and more they arrived. Though the snake-summoner didn't say it to them, she was impressed with the speeds the two kids could dish out.

After ordering her Dango, she and the twins were sitting across from each other and between bites she told them a little about herself. "So, as you see I really like dango. My name is Anko Mitarashi and I will be your Jounin sensei for at least half a year, depending on your performance. My hobbies and dreams are only known to those that earn my trust, which are very few. I hope we will be able to work well together though. Now, your turn."

The twins mulled over what she had said for a few moments before opting to speak in unison, which would probably have freaked out anyone else who saw it. "Well, our name is Naruto Uzumaki. Our hobbies are plotting and executing pranks and we really love ramen! Our dream is to keep our precious people safe and become as strong as the hokage!" They even mirrored each other's expressions and tone of voice. Anko was again impressed and again didn't say it to them, instead opting to finish her dango.

"Well kids, I'll let you know I think the three of us will get along nicely." She smiled and leaned backwards. "Four, you mean." Came a voice from behind the purple-haired jounin. As she leaned back she looked behind her and saw a soft, blueglowing flame vibrating in sync with an etheral voice. "I'll be joining this team as their ninja pet." Anko flicked a toothpick at the flame to see the wooden stick vaporize infront of the flame. "And you are?" She looked rather relaxed in the presence of the strange object, but Anko was anything but relaxed. Her mind raced with the implications of what it could mean if her suspicions were correct.

"I'm sure you have already guessed who I am. However I'm willing to let the past lie to rest and instead help Naru-chan succeed in her dreams, something this unforgiving village never would." Anko shrugged then. "I dont particularily mind. But you need to get registered, and that is going to cause some commotion if you go by the name Kyuubi." She returned to her dango, picking up a new stick from the platter. "Alright kids, go get your friend registered as a ninja pet, you should probably see the Hokage about it first. We'll start missions tomorrow, some easy C-rank."

Meanwhile, back at the academy. "I wonder why our sensei is late." Kiba said, pacing back and forth in the room. It was only team 8 left waiting for their Jounin sensei, Kakashi Hatake. "Do anyone know who our sensei is, anyway?" Sasuke shrugged and gave a non-commiting grunt. "Hmm... Judging by how late he is... My guess would be Kakashi." Their female team member, Ino Yamanaka said. "He wont be here for another couple of hours, so I'll be outside training."She continued, and Sasuke nodded. "Good idea, I'll join."

Kiba pouted, but followed his teammates, "training beats boredom anyday" he mumbled and Akamaru barked cutely from atop the boy's head in agreement. Kakashi himself, spying on his team from behind the wall just above the blackboard nodded to himself. "Decent team. Willing to work together and train when they got the chance. Not much dynamic to speak of but that can be worked out. I'll let them train for an hour or so." His nose returned to the little orange book he enjoyed so much.

Tai sighed. This was a suicide mission, that much was obvious. The Mizukage had sent him on a diplomatic mission to Zabuza Momochi but he had no idea what the mission contents was. High A rank, classified information she had said. He just hoped whatever contents were in the letter was enough because this chuunin did not wish to die yet.

Zabuza was currently on an island south of the Land of Waves doing small-time work as a sort of village security guard. He was training his protegè, Haku in the arts of ninjutsu. Haku was an excellent student and even though Zabuza would most likely never admit it, he was proud of the girl. "If only she could be more honest with herself" thought the pot about the kettle. He figured and/or hoped she would come around eventually.

Haku denied being a girl in any way, shape and form and tried her best to look like a boy because she feared Zabuza would not approve of girlish tendencies. While Zabuza approved of her dedication he couldn't help but worry for her, he had grown rather fond of the girl. That bastard Mizukage Yagura wouldn't ever allow Haku to live in Kiri and he was not fond of massacres. His butchering of the entire graduating class above his year left some serious emotional scars he didn't wish to explore.

Gozu and Meizu were job hunting while Zabuza stayed in the village. When they returned with a good offer for work, Haku and Zabuza would pick up their things, leave and maybe return once they were finished. It was routine for the most part. Zabuza really didn't bother what kind of work it was as long as it paid so he could hire enough mercs to finally overthrow that child Kage Yagura. Just a couple of more jobs and he would finally have his revenge, he mused.

Tai peeked out of the water. The rumors said Zabuza was working on the island ahead. The young chuunin could feel his own spine wanting to crawl out of him just at the thought of standing in front of the infamous Demon of the Mist. He had the skills to get out of a pinch if it did happen of course, he had already placed the seals needed before he came here.

"Hmm... what do we have here Gozu?" A voice came from behind Tai. "I dont know Meizu... A lost fish, perhaps?" Tai attempted to flee but found he couldn't move as chains had wrapped all around him. "Think we should bring him to the boss whole or in pieces?" The brothers were grinning to one another." "W-wait! I have a message! For Zabuza!" Tai looked panic-stricken and had for the moment forgot his escape mechanism.

"Ooooh? A message for the boss eh? Let's bring him in, Meizu."

Zabuza was standing at the beach watching Haku practice. Haku had long since surpassed Zabuza in terms of jutsu skills, so all Zabuza could really do was comment on how he thought she could improve herself. He caught a glimpse of the Demon Brothers from the corner of his eye. "And who is that, Gozu? Meizu?" He asked in a frighteningly cold voice. Tai would have pee'd himself if he was less of a ninja.

"This is just a lost fish we brought out of the water. He says he has a message for you." Zabuza turned his attention to the chunin as a mirror of ice formed behind him, out of which Haku stepped. "And what would that message be, o pet of Yagura?"

Tai blinked for a few seconds. "Yagura?" He asked.

Zabuza just nodded.

"You think I'm a..."

He nodded again.

Tai burst out laughing, causing Zabuza to look extremely pissed. "What the HELL are you laughing for, you little BRAT?" Tai caught his breath while begging his appologies. "I'm sorry I'm sorry, it's just... Well I figured you of all people would know. Now I understand the reason I'm here."

Zabuza was now confused as well as angry. "You got five seconds boy, and I swear that if you do not-" "Yagura is dead." It was Zabuza's turn to blink. "What?"

Tai nodded. "There's a scroll in my left pocket from the new Mizukage, a bloodline user called Mei Terumi. She was the one who killed him, I was there so I know." Zabuza nodded to one of the brothers who fished the scroll out of the chunin's pocket and tossed it to the swordsman. Zabuza quickly opened it and read it through.

"Zabuza of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen.

As the Fifth Mizukage of Kirigakure I, Mei Terumi order you to cease all attacks on Kirigakure and return to active duty as a Shinobi of Kiri. Your first mission will be to infiltrate and eliminate the leader of Gato Shipping Industries and in return you will be stripped from Kiri's bingo book and reinstated as a Jounin of Kirigakure, with full payment of this task as an A-ranked mission. You are required to bring his head as proof, use whatever means at your discretion.

Signed,

-Mei Terumi

Fifth Mizukage of Kiri."

At the opposite end of the signature was the official Mizukage seal, proving it to be real. "Gato, huh...?" Gozu and Meizu perked up at the name. "Sir, would that be Gato of the shipping industry?"

**Author's Notes:**

(*) Divine Edict is not a jutsu. My OC's Miesha and Shodan are beings of a power comparable to the Junbi and the Sage of the Six Paths (whom in this story was also a powerful Daeva). Daemons of the Junbi's level are completely different from the Bijuu. This could cause a bunch of abuse so my OCs are bound by a rule stating they cannot use their powers while on another world. And they're much like missing nin, they have people following them and trying to capture them since they have a death sentence on their homeworld for trying to combine Daeva and Daemon powers, which they did successfully.

Divine Edict however is not a power per se. It's a passive ability that all Daeva are born with, an aura surrounding them that, in varying degrees, shifts other beings beliefs to follow their whim. It's not much comparable to mind control, which forces the target to follow commands, because the Divine Edict is more of a persuasion ability. It cannot force people to do anything against their will, the possibility of them doing it without prompting must lie there from before. However, the strength of the aura determines how low of a possibility can be turned into a command.

Shodan is one of the strongest in the use of his aura, and as such he could command Madara to stay out of the Land of Fire. Madara's reason to follow the command is that it makes things much more interresting for him. A pretty weak excuse and Miesha could never have forced Madara like that. Shodan is also the exception that proves the rule, he is the only known Daeva who can use this ability at will and strengthen or weaken it when he chooses since the Sage of the Six Paths.

As for Miesha, her ability is so weak it might as well not exist. People feel a sort of empathy for her, wanting to become friends and such but they wont be persuaded by her suggestions unless she makes a valid argument about it. Very similar to Naruto's ability in the canon story to turn evil into good. So yes,in this story Naruto has some aptitude with Divine Edict although he doesn't know what it really is. (This due to him being related to the Senju who are decendants of the Sage of the Six Paths)

Now as that explanation is out of the way, Merry Christmas and an early christmas present from me. I know it's a little short (well, in my eyes there was a lot more I wanted to include but my muse has left.) The next chapter will probably not be out until next year! See ya all in 2011.

Oh yeah, if you have any questions, ask me in a PM and I will do my best to reply. I wont give out any details of what will happen in future chapters, but if you're curious about characters, jutsu, why something has happened I'll answer to the best of my abilities.

But truth be told, I got little to no idea where I'm taking this myself. Stuff makes sense to me as I write it down and then becomes obsolete a while later xD There's already a lot of loose ends just waiting for a plot hook, you'll see me pick them up eventually. Do remind me if you think it's taking too long though! :P


	10. Chapter 10

A couple of notes:

1) Sorry I've been gone so long. I had honestly dropped the story completely, but I noticed people still were adding it to their watch list, which surprised me. So I decided to once again brush off my writing skills and see what i could accomplish.

2) I will never ever -restart- this story. I normally scrap everything and restart completely on a story if I get bored of it, but not this one. I'll continue with all the flaws I see in it, through fire and flame.

3) Don't expect regular updates. I am a fickle human being. But I've got a couple of people who bash at me IRL if I dont update this now, so you'll probably see more then a yearly update. Probably.

4) I will be switching out Naru-chan with Naruko by popular request (among my circle of friends at least), and for more ease of mind as I write this.

5) Forgive spelling mistakes, errors and all that jazz, because I certainly forgive it.

6) Sorry for the notes on top, just wanted people to be informed before we get on with this. Notes will still be at the bottom, these were just small bits of info I needed to get out.

Disclaimer:

**_I do NOT own Naruto or any other Anime/Manga/etc. If I did, I'd definitely not sit writing this, that's for sure._**

**Mission? We've got a Mission!**

"So kids! Time to test the fruits of your training!" Anko was grinning like a bobcat stalking it's prey while watching the Uzumaki twins. "It seems we've got ourselves a mission. It's a B-rank so we will be doing this alongside another team. An elimination mission, our job is to kill some rich guy called Gato. Apparently he has holed up in Nami no Kuni, torturing the land. Not that I care why, but at any rate, we've been asked by a man named Tazuna to kill him."

Naruto looked over at his sister who was following what Anko said with rapt attention. She cast a sideways glance at Naruto before nodding and speaking up. "Anko-Sensei, who is the other team?" Both siblings turned to Anko for an answer. "Oh, them... Well..."

Many miles away, in Nami:

"Haku!" The young girl turned around to face one of Gato's henchmen, a big, ugly brute of a man with a giant sword strapped to his back. "Zabuza and Gato wishes your presence. Follow me." Haku put away the senbons she had readied, hiding them away in the myriad of secret pockets and areas within her dress.

"Ah, Haku-chan." Gato greeted her as she and the brute entered. Gato's tiny, fish-like eyes were staring at her while his grin gave her chills up her spine. She didn't outwardly show it though, putting on an air of stoic silence instead. "I was called here? Where is Zabuza-sama?"

"Oh, he is on his way. I have some business I wish to discuss with the two of you." Gato's grin never became less creepy, but she managed to ignore it for the most part. The moment she had entered, she knew there were five more giant brutes hidden within the room. They would probably try to rape her and if she fought or resisted, she and Zabuza would be targeted. It would compromise the mission.

"Very well. I suppose we wait for him, then." She mentally slapped herself for entering such an obvious trap. Zabuza wouldn't stand for it either. He'd call her sloppy and double her training for this. She could flee the room or endure the hell to come, those were the two options she envisioned. "Well..." The little creep looked up at her in a way that made it feel like he was looking down at her instead. "There was one other thing... Something I thought I could discuss with you alone, while we wait for your... master."

Feigning ignorance, she scanned the room for exits. "Oh? And what would that be?" There was a hole in the roof, a bit too far to jump but the walls could give a good rebound effect. Two windows, one was too small to jump through. A door to another part of the house. It wouldn't lead to any second floor, could be basement, bedroom or toilet. The door behind her was guarded by the big brute that followed her here. Roof was the best bet. Traps? She looked a bit closer. A blink from the roof. Probably a guy up there just waiting for her to try escaping.

"Well you know... This village doesn't have much to offer my men in the ways of... relaxation, and they do need that. You know, to keep morale up." She nodded while examining the window, still standing silent and rigid by the entryway. "And what does that have to do with me?" The window looked clear. Could be something just outside. She could jump far if she got a solid foothold on the wall outside.

At the same time, across town Zabuza was sitting slouched back with the demon brothers Gozu and Meizu standing guard on each side of his chair. In front of Zabuza was Gato flanked by his two samurai guards. "So, these little vermin around town have decided to man up and have hired ninja to snuff you, that what you're saying?" Gato glared at the big brute he'd hired as extra protection. Most of his men were regular highwaymen and bandits, apart from the two samurai at his side and Zabuza's ninja crew. Zabuza apparently used to be a high-rank ninja before he became an outlaw, and being that he was the most expensive hired help in Gato's possession he figured if Zabuza and his ninja killed themselves fighting off Gato's would-be assassins, he would only win on it.

"I expect you to handle this situation delicately. If they find out we're on to them, they'll shift their tactics. Right now all we know is that they're seven. Two high-ranked ones and five fresh out of the barracks. I expect you to be able to deal with this?" Zabuza laughed. "Sounds easy. I'll send Haku out to scout first, I need to know who I'm dealing with here before I can do anything. Every kill requires a separate plan. Be patient about this, boss. Gozu, go find Haku, we've got work to do."

"I'll be leaving then, Zabuza. I expect this to be dealt with silently and professionally." Gato lost his smirk the moment his back was turned to the brute, cursing himself for the timing he chose. Oh well, those men were just common rabble. Easily replaced. Once outside the door he told the samurai to go ahead of him to the mansion while he took a turn into an alleyway where he promptly vanished into nothing.

"Well you see girl... One of a man's greatest pleasures come from a woman's body. So I figured I would let my men get the relief they need from you while we wait for your master's arrival." The evil little fish-eyed creep chuckled while moving to the exit. "Play nice with the big boys now, girl." And then he had left. What nobody noticed was that once outside, Gato quickly headed for the nearest empty alley and dissolved into thin air.

Creepy laughter rose from around the room as Haku slowly entered. The six-seven men she had sensed came out from their hiding places, which were pretty ridiculous ones as well. How did a giant brute even hide behind a pillar? She shrugged and decided she would have to learn whatever trick that man had used. But first things first, she had to escape.

The last thought she had before her vision turned black and she fainted was "crap" as the guy behind her knocked her out with the back of his sword. She had forgotten he was there for a second and that was all he needed to strike. Being resilient from all those years of training with Zabuza paid off as she woke up again slowly a few minutes later. She was still groggy and her vision blurred but she heard voices. Rough voices, and many of them. And they were laughing.

She squirmed away as she felt callous hands grab at her body. She now realized she was naked and bound to a pillar in the middle of the room, both hands tied behind her back. Like this she couldn't even do her hand signs. The men laughed even more at her discomfort.

Gozu was probably not the best Shinobi when it came to sensing chakra, but he was the best out of Zabuza's crew, and that is how he noticed the unusually high amount of chakra coming from the abandoned house as he passed it. Why would so many people be inside an abandoned house? For once using what little he had for brains he chose to investigate it, and went around the back to look inside a window. "Two-five... seven men, undressing? What?" He was about to flee when he noticed the figure in the middle. Haku!

"Zabuza-sama!" A dripping wet Gozu came crashing through the door. "Come quick... Follow water trail.. Haku... Rape..." Then Gozu dissolved into water, revealing himself to be a water clone. Back at the abandoned house, Gozu was preparing himself to jump down through the hole in the roof. The problem would be the two guys at the back standing guard. They looked like they belonged with those guards Gato always walked around with. Samurai, huh? Well even if he couldn't take on two Samurai, he could crush a group of bandits before they got to him.

Gripping tighter to his chain and steeling his resolve, he dropped down, tossing the claw-end of his chain to crush through one guy's skull. Spinning in mid-air to retract the chain he smirked as the claws cut another guy next to his target. Landing on the ground he made another spin so the bladed parts of the chain and the claw nipped, cut and ripped at several of the bandits nearby. Only now did they realize they were being attacked. Two were dead and three more were cut, they would be dead in ten minutes tops. The other two barely got their pants on before fleeing the room screaming like frightened girls.

"Are you ok, Hak-"...

Haku had closed her eyes when the men began undressing, shivering in disgust. So hearing the chains rattling and the screams of people dying she peeked open her eyes only to see Gozu turn around grinning at her to ask if she was ok before a chakra-covered blade stuck out through his chest. His concerned look shifted through pain into confusion before he looked down. Looking behind him he grinned again.

"You lose... Zabuza... Comes.." He whispered before falling to the side. One of the two Samurai had moved forward and killed Gozu before now calmly wiping his blade clean of blood and then turning with his companion to leave. Gozu had saved her innocence at the cost of his own life..?

'Ok Haku, keep calm. There's got to be a way to save... Damn it! Keep calm, girl, don't cry!' "Gozu..." A mental order she failed to follow as tears started welling up in her eyes. She slumped down, held up only by the chains while sobbing silently for the loss of her friend. This is how Zabuza found a minute later.

Back in Konoha, the following morning:

Naruko had arrived before her brother at the gates, as he was being doted upon by Miesha for some reason. That girl did have the weirdest habits sometimes. Naruko shuddered as she remembered some of the things the Daeva had done to her or made her do herself.

Not long after she arrived at the gates, her brother showed up along with their "pet" as well as Anko, and a few moments later Team 6 led by Kakashi Hatake. "Hi guys!" Naruto called out to their team mates. Kiba and Naruto usually got along quite well, and Naruko recalled she didn't have much trouble with Ino so she had a good feeling about the team. Gin Ichimaru was the third member of Team 6, and as she recalled he was quite decent with kenjutsu, probably why he was carrying a sword strapped to his back.

"Greetings, Uzumakis." Gin bowed to the two, which made both rather embarrassed. Gin was probably the most polite boy they had ever had the pleasure of meeting. "Hi Naruko!" Ino rushed up to hug Naruko as they approached while Kiba walked up to Naruto with a big grin on his face. "Guess what Naruto, we're not gonna lose out to you this time." Akamaru barked in confirmation and Naruto chuckled. "We'll see about that, won't we Kiba?"

Kiba gave Naruto a huge grin, crossing his arms and puffing out his chest in a proud manner. "Our Sensei is none other then Kakashi, the master of over a thousand jutsu!" Naruto's eyes bulged out at this revelation. "Really! Over a thousand! Awesome, you must've gotten crazy strong the past months!" Kiba smirked. "I might've learned a thing or two, yes." He boasted, just as Kakashi walked up and bonked the dog-boy in the skull. "Now now, I might have taught you some things, but Naruto here has Anko Mitarashi as Sensei. And with only two students on her hand, she's been giving them intense training I'm sure."

"Kakashi! You ready to get this show on the road?" Anko called out from where she stood by the gates. "We've got us some bandits to kill, you know." She was grinning like mad, hopping back and forth and raring to go. "Oh boy, we wont be resting until we've finished this mission will we? Let's move out, team!" On his order, Gin, Kiba and Ino were instantly at his tail and flanking him, Gin and Kiba at the sides with Ino behind in the middle.

"Right, let's go kids." Anko called out and the twins snapped to attention as well, speeding to catch up with Anko herself who had already stormed out the gates. Sighing to herself, the fox "pet" of the Uzumakis just followed at a leisurely pace. "Humans... Always on the move... Oh well." She mumbled to herself.

A/N: Merry Christmas and happy New Year people! And a happy Hanuka and all the other holidays too. Chinese holiday is coming up too, so yey that. Anyways, a small chapter, I thought I would be able to write more, but at least we're getting the show on the road. :P

I will go through some parts of the main storyline in the manga and anime, but I will also create my own pieces. You may see inconsistencies in the character personalities because I completely forget what I had planned for them and go with something else instead, I'm sorry for that. I try my best. xD

For the time being, try and guess what pairings except Naruto/Hinata and Naruko/Kiba will happen! ^_^ I've already made a decision on several pairings, but it's always fun to see guesses, and I might even use some of them if I haven't made a decision prior to reading the suggestion.


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